Attempts to locate and sample the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Lamniformes: Lamnidae), along the Italian coasts in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Described in the present report are documented attempts to tag and sample the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758), along Italian coasts in the Mediterranean Sea, which took place near the Lampedusa Island in the lower Tyrrhenian Channel of Sicily, off the coast of Rimini in the Adriatic Sea, and of Civitavecchia in the central Tyrrhenian Sea. The project, activated in 2015, was aimed at tagging and sampling specimens of the white shark in order to collect data useful to implement conservation strategies in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite four tagging attempts made in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022 with 288 total hours of baiting activity and the use of 1030 kg of chum, no white sharks or any other shark species were sighted.