7th Southern African Shark and Ray Symposium

The Southern African Shark & Ray Symposium (SASRS) is a biennial event, which brings together social and natural scientists, practitioners, non-governmental and governmental organizations as well as decision makers. The central purpose of the Symposium is to provide a forum for the discussion and exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge on issues related to the biology, conservation and management of Sharks and Rays. Active participation by early career researchers is strongly encouraged, especially from African and West Indian Ocean countries outside of South Africa.

The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB) hosted the inaugural Southern African Shark and Ray Symposium in 2011. We are proud to be hosting this year’s event in 2023 with generous funding from the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board, the Save Our Seas Fund and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.

This year we are very excited to introduce our “New Generation programme”, where we are privileged to be joined by some of the best science students at schools in KwaZulu-Natal as well as top-performing students from the Universities of Fort Hare, Zululand, Western Cape and Walter Sisulu University. Please check out the tab at the top of the webpage for more details.

We would like to acknowledge the Dyer Island Conservation Trust/Marine Dynamics who successfully hosted the previous event in 2021.