“Fake news” from the environmental organization iSea characterizes the claim widely circulated in various media outlets about the appearance of sharks in the Gulf of Pagasitikos due to dead fish.
As they make clear in their statement, Most sharks are not scavenger species, but actively hunt for food, Very few species have been found to eat dead animals, usually dead whales, and none of them are found in the area.
The dead fish that ended up in Pagasitikos are freshwater species and are in no way a food for sharks and predators are almost never attracted to dead and decaying animals.
“Confirmed presence of 35 species” of shark
“We have records of sharks in Pagasitikos, as well as in all Greek seas, where we have the confirmed presence of 35 species,” environmentalist and iSea programme manager Roxani Naasan Aga-Spyridopoulou told the Athens Macedonia News Agency.
“We do not coincide in the places where they live as they prefer deep waters and far from land, we are not part of their… menu and their eating habits and As strange as it is for us to see a shark in the sea, it is even more so for them” says Ms. Aga-Spyridopoulou who speaks about stereotypes that promote fear and are perpetuated.
“Just as the wolf is not ‘bad’, neither are sharks. It is indicative that In Greece, since 1800, there have been 11 shark attacks, none of which were fatal, the last one having occurred in 1950″. Regarding the appearance of sharks, which is common, especially in films, with sharp teeth and fins, the environmentalist reports that Some species are like this, especially the rarest and most threatened by other species, such as the Galeo.
“Unfortunately, the perpetuation of stereotypes does not help citizens understand this and Sharks are part of the ecosystem and are at the top of the food chain as predators» he concludes.