Shark Trust is building a database of shark sightings across the ocean.

Submitting your sightings not only lets you share with the world the animals you have seen, but it also generates important data for researchers and conservationists working with sharks, skates and rays around the world. Your sightings will contribute to our understanding of many species, providing some of the best available data for their management, helping ensure a sustainable future for sharks, skates and rays.

Sightings submitted to Shark Trust will have many potential uses – from learning about the different colour morphologies of skates and rays around the British coast, to understanding the size of whale shark populations around the world. Any sighting or catch of wild elasmobranchs can be submitted to this database. The information is frequently used in not-for-profit decision-making, education, research, environmental and other public-benefit purposes.