The Mediterranean Shark Research Group was created in summer 2000 as an initiative of some researchers interested in promoting a web of information exchange between ichthyologists who study sharks of the Mediterranean Sea, in a perspective of complete collaboration. The first promoters were Alessandro De Maddalena (Italian Great White Shark Data Bank), Lovrenc Lipej (Marine Biological Station Piran), Joan Barrull and Isabel Mate (Barcelona Museum of Zoology). As a consequence of the specific orientation of this initiative, the members of this group are mainly from Countries of the Mediterranean basin, however admission in the group is possible for those who work other parts of the world and have a particular interest for the Mediterranean area, have worked here the past or plan to in future. For a choice of the promoters, the Mediterranean Shark Research Group is not an "official" association, has no president, so all members have the same decision power and maintain complete autonomy in their work. Activities, can be planned both at the level of the whole group and as a part of the group, are limited to a restricted geographic area. From summer 2001 the group started a research program on captures of sharks in Mediterranean Sea by sportfishermen, called Mediterranean Shark Sportfishery Program.

The sharks of the Mediterranean Sea have for too long been the subject almost only of sporadic and discontinuous studies. The birth of this group is a positive sign of a change that is finally taking place. This will, in time, permit filling the gaps that still exist in our knowledge of the sharks that frequent the Mediterranean.

Contact:

Dr. Alessandro De Maddalena
via L. Ariosto 4, I-20145 Milan, Italy
Tel. 00 39 2 48021454
E-mail: a-demaddalena@tiscali.it