Abstract More than one-third of sharks and their relatives are threatened with extinction as of 2025 (IUCN, 2024). Populations of sharks in the open ocean declined by 71% between 1970 and 2020 (Pacoureau et al, 2021). The Arabian/Persian Gulf region has 30 endemic species, and some of the most threatened chondrichthyan populations in the world (Jabado et al, 2018). There has been limited political will to address the situation and what will there is, is disabled by national and regional incapacities to assess, manage, conserve or rebuild stocks (Jabado et al, 2018). The enormous ecological importance of sharks is well documented, but there is a great data deficit pertaining to sharks in Bahraini waters. Observations of sharks for sale at supermarket fish counters in Bahrain prompted concern and led to this project being devised and executed. This research article describes the process by which vital legal protection is being introduced for vulnerable shark species in the territorial waters of the Kingdom of Bahrain. To achieve this, new data was collected to justify the necessity of shark protection; the data was collected from observations at fish markets, supermarket fish counters, landing docks and via interviews with fishers. At the time of data collection, no one else had undertaken shark-focused surveys in Bahrain since 2012. Individual specimens of multiple species that are listed as Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List were recorded as being fished during the research for this study. These individuals were mostly female juveniles in number, followed by male juveniles and then there were some pregnant females. This evidence proved the concerns that had initially prompted this project. The critical data was presented to the Bahraini Supreme Council for the Environment and a shark protection law was written for the Kingdom and submitted for legal review. The shark protection law has been absorbed into a new raft of environment protection laws for the Kingdom of Bahrain, due to be ratified in 2026.
Jenny Elliott-Bennett (Mon,) studied this question.