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Shark and ray global trade network (SRGTN)

Authors

Andrés Ospina-Alvarez [1]; ; Silvia de Juan [2]; Gill Ainsworth [3,4]; Pablo Pita [3,4] & Sebastián Villasante [3,4]

Affiliations:

1. Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC), C/ Miquel Marques 21, CP 07190 Esporles, Balearic Islands, Spain.
2. Institute of Marine Sciences ICM (CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37, CP 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
3. Cross-Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS), University of Santiago de Compostela(USC), Campus Sur, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain.
4. Campus Do Mar, International Campus of Excellence, Spain.

Instructions

Step 1: Choose which taxonomic group to analyse and whether the trade relationships represented will be based on the quantity of product traded (mass in tonnes, also called metric tonnes in the USA, 1 tonne = 1 metric ton = 1,000 kg) or on the monetary value (millions of USD) of the transactions.

Step 2: Choose the centrality measure that will represent the relative importance of traders (nodes) and transaction linkages (edges) in the network. The definitions of each of the centrality measures and their rationale in the context of the global seafood market can be consulted in the Readme tab.

Step 3: Choose date range (years) to be analysed.

Step 4: Six-digit commodity codes are used worldwide, and by the United Nations ( UN COMTRADE), to monitor trade volumes and apply international trade measures to goods. Choose the commodity code(s) that match the type of product and preparation to be analysed. For example, code 030292 covers trade transactions related to fresh or chilled shark fins, and code 030282 covers trade transactions related to fresh or chilled, rays and skates. If no commodity code(s) is(are) selected the network will be constructed using all available commodity codes for the taxonomic group.

A brief introduction to Graph theory in trade network analysis

Graph theory is the mathematical study of a network of interacting elements. This approach provides a quantitative but simplified view of the multiple factors involved in the connection ( edges) among elements ( nodes) contained in a network. In a network of traders, graph theory provides insights into the trading relationships' properties and identifies critical nodes (traders) with high centrality that are connected to many other traders, or clusters of well-connected traders. In plain words, it goes beyond the mere interchange between network elements, by considering the network as a whole, where a node might play a crucial role independently on the dimension of the individual connections (i.e. transactions in a trading network). These emerging properties are measured through different centrality measures.

Measures of centrality, definitions, and rationales in a context of a seafood trade network

See the list of references at the end for even more information.

References

Barrat, A., Barthélemy, M., Pastor-Satorras, R., & Vespignani, A. (2004). The architecture of complex weighted networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(11), 3747-3752. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0400087101

Bonacich, P. (1987). Power and centrality: A family of measures. American Journal of Sociology, 92(5), 1170-1182. https://doi.org/10.1086/228631

Freeman, L. C. (1978). Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1(3), 215-239.

Countries and territories with their ISO-2 and ISO-3 codes

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) country codes are internationally recognized codes that designate every country and most of the dependent areas a two-letter combination or a three-letter combination; it is like an acronym, that stands for a country or a state. Here is displayed the used list of countries and territories with their ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, also called ISO2 codes, and their ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, also called ISO3 codes, which are two and three-letter codes, respectively, assigned in the ISO 3166-1 standard.

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Shark and ray global trade network (SRGTN)

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Authors Andrés Ospina-Alvarez [1]; ; Silvia de Juan [2]; Gill Ainsworth [3,4]; Pablo Pita [3,4] & Sebastián Villasante [3,4] Affiliations: 1. Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC), C/ Miquel Marques 21, CP 07190 Esporles, Balearic Islands, Spain. 2. Institute of Marine Sciences ICM (CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37, CP 08003, Barcelona, Spain.

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Portugal exportou 200 toneladas de barbatanas em 2021.

Portugal é o segundo exportador mundial de carne de tubarão e o 6.º maior importador de carne de raia. O alerta foi feito pela Associação Natureza Portugal, que trabalha com o World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), chamando a atenção para sobrepesca e comércio não regulado destas espécies - um negócio que estimam mover mais de 4 mil milhões de dólares por ano a nível global, quando 36% das espécies estão ameaçadas.

"A Espanha é o maior exportador mundial e a Itália o maior importador de carne de tubarão. Na última década, Espanha dominou o comércio global altamente complexo de carne de tubarão fresca e congelada, aparecendo entre os três principais países do mundo com maiores valores, volumes e número de parceiros comerciais", diz a associação, concluindo que as "pontes comerciais mais importantes para a estabilidade da rede de carne de tubarão têm sido entre Japão, Portugal, Reino Unido e Espanha; Japão e Panamá; e China e Japão." A UE, acrescenta, é responsável por 22% do comércio global.

Para a ANP, "Portugal contribui significativamente para o comércio global de carne de tubarão. Na última década é o país do mundo com maiores exportações de carne fresca e o 2.º em carne congelada em termos de volume. Estabelece ligações comerciais com 95 países diferentes, sendo a Espanha, o país com o qual Portugal tem o maior volume de trocas comerciais."

Para regular efetivamente esta rede "altamente complexa e global", diz a ANP, é necessário conhecer a dimensão das rotas, as espécies envolvidas e os países de origem e de destino, bem como o seu tipo de processamento. Segundo dados do INE, que o i consultou, só em 2021 Portugal exportou mais de 13 201 quilos de barbatanas de tubarão frescas ou congeladas e 186 749 quilos de barbatanas congeladas, ou seja, praticamente 200 toneladas de barbatanas de tubarão. O produto foi todo para o mercado intra-UE.

Os comentários estão desactivados.

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Negócio da carne de tubarão passa por Portugal

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Portugal exportou 200 toneladas de barbatanas em 2021. Portugal é o segundo exportador mundial de carne de tubarão e o 6.º maior importador de carne de raia.

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Tubarão por espadarte. A fraude que engana milhares de consumidores

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A poluição e as alterações climáticas também não ajudam, mas os biólogos são muito claros ao apontar para uma grande causa da extinção de tubarões no Mediterrâneo: o homem e a pesca.

E se até há uns tempos a razão principal estava no facto de serem apanhados pelas redes inadvertidamente, o facto é que agora são também apanhados com um propósito muito claro. Fraude.

Com a escassez de peixe no mar, como o atum ou espadarte, os pescadores acabam por apanhar tubarão. Apesar de ser um peixe com um valor de mercado baixo - até porque há poucas pessoas que comem tubarão - a realidade é que este peixe acaba por ser rotulado e vendido de forma fraudulenta.

Já na panela, digamos assim, ou seja, em restaurantes, o tubarão é muitas vezes cozinhado de forma a que seja difícil perceber o que se está a comer. As autoridades têm verificado que isso acontece com frequência em Itália e Espanha.

"Poucas pessoas sabem que estão a comer tubarão", disse ao The Guardian Simona Clò, diretora científica da MedSharks, uma Organização Não Governamental italiana.

Diz ainda esta especialista que, muitas vezes, as pessoas acabam também por comer tubarão porque compram sem saber. Os nomes para estes animais em italiano podem levar ao engano. Por exemplo, explica Simona Clò, tubarão azul em italiano diz-se Verdesca, que nada tem a ver com a palavra italiana para tubarão - squalo.

Clò afirmou ainda ao jornal britânico que encontram com frequência tubarão em pratos como sopa de peixe ou em misturas de peixes fritos.

Esta situação pode ser muito lucrativa. Um quilo de tubarão azul pode ser vendido por um euro enquanto que um quilo de espadarte vale 12 vezes mais.

A Guarda Costeira italiana diz que a venda fraudulenta de tubarão azul representa mesmo uma das três principais fraudes alimentares no país.

E, se só por si esta situação já é um problema grave, acresce que o risco para a saúde dos humanos é também ele elevado. A carne de tubarão pode ter elevados níveis de mercúrio e outros metais prejudiciais à saúde.

Outro problema, de acordo com os biólogos, é que com a pesca descontrolada aumenta o risco de proliferação de algumas espécies e a extinção de outras. Os tubarões são predadores. Com o seu desaparecimento, o efeito no mar é ainda imprevisível mas preocupante.

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Tubarão por espadarte. A fraude que engana milhares de consumidores

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Há cada vez menos e estão mais pequenos. O número de tubarões no Mediterrâneo sofreu uma quebra de cerca de 80 por cento nos últimos anos. Nos dias de hoje, de acordo com a União Internacional para a Conservação da Natureza, mais de metade das 73 espécies de tubarões e raias que vivem no Mediterrâneo estão em vias de extinção.

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Portugal pesca tubarão e raia em excesso

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A informação agora divulgada pela Associação Natureza Portugal (ANP), em Portugal associada da internacional "World Wide Fund for Nature" (WWF), surge no relatório da primeira avaliação sobre tubarões e raias da organização, com o apoio da Fundação Oceano Azul.

A propósito dos resultados a ANP/WWF apela à criação de um plano de ação nacional para a gestão e conservação de tubarões e raias, que coloque Portugal na liderança europeia da proteção destas espécies, diz em comunicado.

A organização de defesa do ambiente diz que o relatório "Tubarões e Raias: Guardiões do oceano em crise", é o primeiro estudo abrangente sobre o estado das populações de tubarões e raias em Portugal, sobre a sua pesca, comércio e políticas.

Antena 1

Segundo a análise, " a sobrepesca e uma proteção inadequada estão a ameaçar as 117 espécies de tubarões, raias e quimeras (peixes cartilagíneos) existentes no mar português, apesar destas espécies-chave serem essenciais à saúde e bem-estar do oceano".

Além de ser dos países que mais captura as espécies Portugal está também nos primeiros lugares das importações e exportações de carne de tubarão e raia (8.º e 6.º lugar mundial, respetivamente), pelo que a ANP/WWF pede aos consumidores para terem um "papel ativo" e evitem comer raia ou tubarão até que a pesca seja comprovadamente sustentável.

" Em Portugal, os tubarões e raias estão a ser pescados de forma insustentável. Um quarto de todos os desembarques (em peso) da frota portuguesa nos últimos 30 anos, corresponde a espécies que atualmente estão ameaçadas, três quartos das espécies pescadas têm as suas populações em declínio e sete espécies historicamente pescadas estão agora criticamente em perigo, a um passo da extinção", salienta a associação no comunicado.

Ângela Morgado, diretora executiva da ANP/WWF, afirma, citada no documento, que a forma de pescar em Portugal está a ameaçar os tubarões e as raias, e defende que para evitar um oceano sem tubarões e raias " o Governo português deve tomar a liderança europeia nesta questão, avançando para uma pesca de baixo impacto e seletiva, e tornando-se o primeiro Estado-membro a criar um Plano de Ação Nacional para estas espécies".

Aos consumidores, além de se absterem de comer as espécies em causa, a ANP/WWF pede atenção à composição de alguns produtos que existem no mercado, nomeadamente cremes hidratantes ou complexos vitamínicos que contêm esqualeno e óleo de fígado de tubarão. E que assumam o compromisso de dizer #TubarãonoPratoNão ou #TiraAraiaDestaAlhada, no "site" da organização.

Ana Henriques, principal relatora do documento agora divulgado, salienta que as duas espécies "são verdadeiros guardiões do oceano" e preservá-los é urgente e muito necessário.

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Portugal pesca tubarão e raia em excesso

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A informação agora divulgada pela Associação Natureza Portugal (ANP), em Portugal associada da internacional "World Wide Fund for Nature" (WWF), surge no relatório da primeira avaliação sobre tubarões e raias da organização, com o apoio da Fundação Oceano Azul.

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Pesca acessória. A captura do tubarão é feita de forma isolada, mas só nos últimos meses foram pescados 600 toneladas no Algarve. Das 108 espécies de peixes cartilagíneos pescados no Atlântico Norte, incluindo Portugal, encontram-se 74 tubarões. Tubarão-azul e anequim são as mais frequentes
Na Europa foram detectados 40 ataques nos últimos 50 anos
A pesca do tubarão está em expansão em Portugal atingindo actualmente cerca de 15 mil toneladas por ano. Só no Algarve registou-se uma captura de 600 toneladas nos últimos meses, indicou um especialista da Universidade do Algarve.

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A pesca do tubarão em Portugal é acessória e não uma pesca alvo (dirigida ao tubarão), mas quando chega à rede é comercializado de igual modo nas lotas portuguesas, à semelhança do outro pescado. Muitos tubarões de profundidade são também apanhados em Portugal, como a "lixa" e a "gatas" (pretos de olhos verdes), por pescadores que lidam com a faina do peixe-espada preto e cherne através de anzol.

No Atlântico Norte, incluindo Portugal, foram registadas, em 2006, 108 espécies de peixes cartilagíneos (com esqueleto cartilagíneo), entre os quais 74 tubarões, 27 raias e sete quimeras. Nas águas portuguesas existem espécies potencialmente perigosas, como o tubarão-branco, o tubarão-anequim e o tubarão-martelo, mas não existem relatos de ataques, nem há registo de nenhuma vítima mortal, disse Rui Coelho. Já na Europa foram registados cerca de 40 ataques de tubarões nos últimos 50 anos, quase todos no mar Mediterrâneo, nomeadamente em França, Grécia e Itália (o último ataque mortal foi registado em Itália em 1989).

Nas últimas duas décadas foi registada uma média de 60 ataques por ano de tubarões a nível mundial, que provocaram seis vítimas mortais, adiantou o especialista em biologia pesqueira, mencionando que 75% dos ataques mundiais ocorrem nos EUA, África do Sul, Austrália e Brasil. "Apesar da fama dos ataques de tubarão, a probabilidade de uma pessoa ser atacada e morta por um tubarão é realmente baixa", principalmente na costa portuguesa, contou à Lusa o especialista da Universidade do Algarve, Rui Coelho. O tubarão é um predador de topo caracterizado por ter crescimento lento, vida longa, baixa fecundidade e mortalidade natural reduzida por não ter predadores naturais.

Pesca em iate de luxo

Um isco fresco e rico em sangue de peixe, boas doses de paciência e força de braços são ingredientes necessários para a prática da pesca desportiva ao tubarão no Algarve. O negócio, contudo, regista este ano quebras na ordem dos 60% e a culpa é da crise generalizada. O GPS (sistema de localização geográfica) está ligado, soltam-se as amarras do iate Sophie e deixa-se lentamente o cais "Q" da luxuosa marina de Vilamoura, no Algarve, para tentar pescar o maior predador dos oceanos: o tubarão. Quarenta minutos depois a uma velocidade de 20 nós (37 quilómetros/hora), a tripulação entra na zona pesqueira e lança a cilada a 89 metros de profundidade. Balões vermelhos para assinalar onde foi lançado o isco são deitados ao mar a par com a linha de pesca. Pequenos truques dos marinheiros contemporâneos.

Oriundos da cidade de Moscovo, o casal russo Alexander, 38 anos, e Tatiana, 32 anos, e mais dois escoceses da zona de Glasgow, o jovem Stuart, 14 anos, e o seu pai Duncan contam com a ajuda do comandante de bordo Miguel Benedy, 42 anos, e do simpático pescador e auxiliar João Páscoa, para concretizar o sonho de pescar um tubarão.

A única certeza que os tripulantes têm é que se capturarem algum tubarão com a cana de pesca e o cinto especial de combate, o final vai ser sempre feliz, pois nenhum tubarão vai morrer ou ficar ferido. Uma das leis da pesca desportiva manda que se devolva o animal ao habitat natural.

Tubarão-azul no Algarve

No caso de o tubarão atingir uma determinada medida - o tubarão-azul, o que mais aparece na costa algarvia, só pode ser capturado com mais de 2,5 metros de comprimento -, o cliente que o pesca deve entregar o peixe a uma instituição de solidariedade. Além do tubarão-azul, conhecido pelos pescadores por "tintureira" porque larga uma tinta escura, também se pesca nas águas do Algarve o tubarão-anequim (conhecido como o mais feroz e agressivo dos tubarões), o tubarão-martelo (oitavo mais perigoso para o homem, cujo focinho é largo em forma de martelo), cação, pata-roxa ou tubarão-raposa (espécie comum de águas tropicais).

O tubarão-branco, tornado célebre em 1975 pelo filme "Tubarão", do realizador Steven Spielberg, é o maior peixe predador - pode atingir 7,5 metros de comprimento e pesar 2,5 toneladas - e já apareceu no Algarve, recorda o comandante do iate Sophie. "Há dez anos apanhou-se um tubarão-branco com 1200 quilos perto da praia de Olhos de Água, Albufeira", lembra Miguel Benedy, neto e filho de pescadores. Outra das capturas que guarda no seu imaginário foi realizada em 2007 aquando da visita do presidente da República do Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, a Portugal, durante a qual aquele governante conseguiu pescar um tubarão-azul de 260 quilos, doado depois ao Refúgio Aboim Ascensão - Emergência Infantil.

Apanhar um tubarão-azul de metro e meio pode ser uma tortura para a paciência, mas a tripulação do Sophie portou-se à altura e esperou pacientemente que um espécime picasse o isco. O combate durou cerca de 10 minutos com a adrenalina a ferver. Correu tudo bem e, no fim, o comandante e o auxiliar conseguiram catalogar o animal. Depois de levar um beijo do pescador João Páscoa, o tubarão-azul foi libertado no mar. "Dou sempre um beijo de despedida", confessou, recordando que alguns dos peixes catalogados na região do Algarve, são depois avistados em Cabo Verde ou no Golfo do México. Jornalista da LUSA

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Portugueses pescam 15 mil toneladas de tubarão ano

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Pesca acessória. A captura do tubarão é feita de forma isolada, mas só nos últimos meses foram pescados 600 toneladas no Algarve. Das 108 espécies de peixes cartilagíneos pescados no Atlântico Norte, incluindo Portugal, encontram-se 74 tubarões. Tubarão-azul e anequim são as mais frequentes

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Portugal pesca tubarão e raia em excesso, alerta organização ambientalista | O Jornal Económico

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“Em Portugal, os tubarões e raias estão a ser pescados de forma insustentável. Um quarto de todos os desembarques (em peso) da frota portuguesa nos últimos…

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Especialistas querem o fim das licenças para pescar tubarão

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Especialistas querem o fim das licenças para pescar tubarão

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Portugal é o segundo país do mundo a exportar carne de tubarão, apesar de 75% das espécies se encontrarem em risco de extinção. A Daniela Santiago foi mergulhar com o tubarão azul.

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For decades, sharks have gotten a raw deal on the high seas, where fishermen have butchered them alive by the hundreds of millions and thrown their carcasses overboard, keeping only the prized fins to sell to Asian markets. This gruesome practice - called finning - has come under fire from conservationists, who say the shark fin trade has decimated species like silky, oceanic whitetip and dusky sharks around the world.

Where have all those fins gone? They're a base ingredient in shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese dish that is today both esteemed and, increasingly, scorned as a symbol of wanton waste and cruelty.

Now, thanks in part to publicity campaigns condemning the delicacy, imports of shark fins into Hong Kong, historically a major market, have dropped by 29 percent since 2011. That's according to new research published in the journal Biological Conservation.

It might be tempting attribute this shift to two types of regulation in some parts of the world: one that make it illegal to sell shark fins, and another than bans the practice of cutting off the shark's fins and leaving the body at sea.

But, as Shelley Clarke, an independent researcher based in Japan and coauthor of the Biological Conservation study (and a less technical companion paper), writes, it's more complicated than that. Some endangered sharks are still being overfished. And while the trade in shark fins may be down, the trade in shark meat, it turns out, is going strong.

As The Salt reported in August, sharks like mako and blacktip were hot menu items in the U.S. during Discovery Channel's hugely popular television series "Shark Week." And according to an analysis by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, imports of shark meat around the world increased by 42 percent from 2000 to 2011.

And the shark finning bans could have something to do with it.

Clarke says bans on finning could actually be driving new markets for shark meat. That, she speculates, is because in places where sharks were once de-finned and their carcasses dumped at sea, now whole sharks are being delivered to port. While their fins would remain the more valued item, it is likely that fishermen may be selling the meat and creating new appetites for a product that wasn't before utilized - bad news for sharks.

In still other places where the meat has long been consumed, including Mexico's Sea of Cortez, demand for it remains the same.

In the U.S., conservation campaigns have produced a handful of state-by-state bans on sale of shark fins. And the new fishing regulations have been lauded as effective advances in shark conservation efforts.

According to Jonathan Gonzalez, a Santa Barbara sustainability activist who lobbied for the California-wide 2012 ban on selling shark fins, the bill "did not save a single shark from our local gillnet fleet. State-by-state fin bans are a feel-good step."

But Gonzalez's main objective in backing the legislation was to deal a blow to foreign fisheries that sold fins - even fins of widely protected species like the great white - in places like San Francisco's Chinatown. Foreign shark fisheries, he says, can be especially problematic due to their lack of transparency, especially if fins are brought to port detached from the shark. This makes it almost impossible for scientists to track which species are being fished.

Gonzalez says that virtually every shark landed in an American port today is sold for its meat, not its fins. And in the Sea of Cortez, shrimp trawlers who accidentally catch sharks have traditionally brought the entire animal ashore, as both the meat and fins have value, according to Maria Johnson, a conservation fellow with Prescott College's Kino Bay fishery research program. In such fisheries, bans on finning and on the sale of the fins would have no effect.

Sonja Fordham, president of the The Ocean Foundation's Shark Advocates International project has worked for years on implementing finning bans. She says that banning finning doesn't necessarily reduce shark mortality.

"It's just a sensible first step [toward shark conservation] to get the ball rolling," Fordham tells The Salt. Catch limits, based on good science, and stricter protections for threatened species of sharks on a global scale would be more effective in the long run, she says.

But even such stricter protections may not guarantee that sharks released after capture will survive. Clarke has reported that sharks accidentally caught, then released, face great odds of mortality - as high as 84 percent.

While few, if any, shark advocates trivialize the importance of recent shark fin-related restrictions, Peter Knights, executive director of Wild Aid, says regulations won't help sharks if demand for the animals is not eventually dampened. "Just like with elephants, tigers, rhinos - if the financial incentive to break the law is too strong, the protective measures will fail," Knights says.

Fortunately, education campaigns that highlight the environmental consequences of eating certain shark species, as well as health consequences of eating sharks with high mercury content, seem to have had some impact. According to Clarke's research, shark fin sales in Asia have plunged as the increasingly taboo delicacy has become shunned where it was once relished.

Gonzalez, who runs a website called Eat U.S. Seafood, says he thinks that overall there's been progress.

"I'm just happy I can walk into a shop in [San Francisco's] Chinatown now and not see imported fins of great white sharks," he says.
Alastair Bland is a freelance writer based in San Francisco who covers food, agriculture and the environment.

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Why Shark Finning Bans Aren't Keeping Sharks Off The Plate (Yet)

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For decades, sharks have gotten a raw deal on the high seas, where fishermen have butchered them alive by the hundreds of millions and thrown their carcasses overboard, keeping only the prized fins to sell to Asian markets.

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Countries Propose Global Protection for Rays,
Regional Conservation for Sharks

Washington, DC. June 11, 2014. Shark Advocates International is welcoming an unprecedented suite of proposals from Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) to list 21 species of rays and sharks on the CMS Appendices. Two species of hammerheads, all three threshers, and the silky shark have been proposed for CMS Appendix II, which would encourage regional cooperation to conserve shared populations. All five sawfishes, nine devil rays, and the reef manta are proposed for Appendix I & II; Appendix I listing would bring obligations for strict protection. Read more...

Endangered Sawfish: IUCN Strategy Released as Global Protection Proposed

Durban, South Africa. June 5, 2014. The Shark Specialist Group (SSG) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is today releasing a global strategy to prevent extinction and promote recovery of sawfishes, which have been devastated worldwide by overfishing and habitat loss. The strategy is being launched at the Sharks International conference in Durban and coincides with announcements that two West Africa countries -- Guinea and Guinea Bissau - are proposing the listing of sawfishes under the Convention on Migratory Species in November, which could significantly boost protections. Read more...

Dogfish Are Sharks Too! Coastal species often called "dogfish" need sound conservation policies and strict finning bans, just like bigger sharks

Protecting sharks from unsustainable trade: All eyes on CITES

Shark Advocates International, like conservationists from around the world, is now keenly focused on the March 3-15 Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Bangkok, Thailand. There, Parties will vote on a record number of proposals for controlling trade in a variety of threatened sharks and rays, including hammerheads and mantas. Click here to see our new fact sheets on these species. Read more...

Landslide Vote in European Parliament Puts Stronger EU Finning Ban in Reach

Shark Advocates International (SAI) is joining the chorus of conservation groups worldwide heralding the recent European Parliament vote to close loopholes in the European Union (EU) ban on shark finning (the wasteful process of slicing off a shark's fins and discarding the body at sea). The vote represented the culmination of six years of intense campaigning and debate.

On November 22, Members of the European Parliament voted 566-47 in favor of a proposal from the European Commission to prohibit removal of shark fins on board fishing vessels (and thereby require that all sharks landed still have their fins naturally attached).Read more...

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Shark Advocates International is a non-profit (501c3) project of The Ocean Foundation dedicated to conserving some of the ocean's most vulnerable and valuable - the sharks. Our mission is to provide leadership in advancing sound, science-based local, national, and international conservation policies through collaboration with a diverse array of organizations and decision makers.

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New Report Shows Most Countries are Falling Short on Commitments to Protect Sharks and RaysNew Report Shows Most Countries are Falling Short on Commitments to Protect Sharks and Rays

Monaco, December 13, 2018. Most countries are not living up to shark and ray protection commitments made under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), according to conservationists. A comprehensive review released today by Shark Advocates International (SAI), Sharks Ahead, documents national and regional actions for 29 shark and ray species listed under CMS from 1999 to 2014. At a shark-focused CMS meeting this week, the authors highlight their findings and make urgent calls for action. Read More

Download Report

New 10-year Strategy for Protecting Sharks and Rays

A group of experts from international conservation organizations is announcing a new strategy for combating the decline of sharks and closely related rays, while warning that the rays are even more threatened and less protected than the higher profile sharks. Read More

Global Priorities for Conserving Sharks & Rays

Conserving Migratory Sharks & Rays: Priorities for Action

New Fact Sheet

Manta and Devil Rays (Mobulids)of the Eastern Tropical Pacific
Manta and devil ray species (family Mobulidae) are facing heavy targeted and incidental fishing pressure around the world, increasingly driven by escalating Chinese demand for their gill plates.

Convention on Migratory Species Meeting

We're in Quito, Ecuador for the Convention on Migratory Species Conference of Parties where the agenda is dominated by proposals to list rays and sharks (sawfishes, devil rays, threshers, hammerheads, and silky sharks). Learn more about these species and what listing would mean from our coalition fact sheets, and follow the action through November 9 using #CMSCoP11 and #SharksWithoutBorders on Twitter!

TAKE ACTION!

SMALL SHARKS, BIG FISHERIES: Please help limit fishing, prevent finning!
Washington, DC. August 15, 2014. Just in time for Shark Week, concerned citizens have great opportunities to help improve fishing and finning policies for the two most heavily fished sharks in the US: Smooth and Spiny Dogfishes.

These two small species are taken in great numbers for their meat and fins, mostly for export to Europe and Asia. They aren't nearly as loved as bigger sharks, and have fallen through some important management cracks. Dogfish deserve sound fishing and finning policies, just like other sharks!Please weigh in with fishery managers during these two key comment periods. Read More

Features

Countries Propose Global Protection for Rays,
Regional Conservation for Sharks

Washington, DC. June 11, 2014. Shark Advocates International is welcoming an unprecedented suite of proposals from Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) to list 21 species of rays and sharks on the CMS Appendices. Two species of hammerheads, all three threshers, and the silky shark have been proposed for CMS Appendix II, which would encourage regional cooperation to conserve shared populations. All five sawfishes, nine devil rays, and the reef manta are proposed for Appendix I & II; Appendix I listing would bring obligations for strict protection. Read more...

Endangered Sawfish: IUCN Strategy Released as Global Protection Proposed

Durban, South Africa. June 5, 2014. The Shark Specialist Group (SSG) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is today releasing a global strategy to prevent extinction and promote recovery of sawfishes, which have been devastated worldwide by overfishing and habitat loss. The strategy is being launched at the Sharks International conference in Durban and coincides with announcements that two West Africa countries -- Guinea and Guinea Bissau - are proposing the listing of sawfishes under the Convention on Migratory Species in November, which could significantly boost protections. Read more...

Dogfish Are Sharks Too! Coastal species often called "dogfish" need sound conservation policies and strict finning bans, just like bigger sharks

Protecting sharks from unsustainable trade: All eyes on CITES

Shark Advocates International, like conservationists from around the world, is now keenly focused on the March 3-15 Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Bangkok, Thailand. There, Parties will vote on a record number of proposals for controlling trade in a variety of threatened sharks and rays, including hammerheads and mantas. Click here to see our new fact sheets on these species. Read more...

Landslide Vote in European Parliament Puts Stronger EU Finning Ban in Reach

Shark Advocates International (SAI) is joining the chorus of conservation groups worldwide heralding the recent European Parliament vote to close loopholes in the European Union (EU) ban on shark finning (the wasteful process of slicing off a shark's fins and discarding the body at sea). The vote represented the culmination of six years of intense campaigning and debate.

On November 22, Members of the European Parliament voted 566-47 in favor of a proposal from the European Commission to prohibit removal of shark fins on board fishing vessels (and thereby require that all sharks landed still have their fins naturally attached).Read more...

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Shark Advocates International is a non-profit (501c3) project of The Ocean Foundation dedicated to conserving some of the ocean's most vulnerable and valuable - the sharks. Our mission is to provide leadership in advancing sound, science-based local, national, and international conservation policies through collaboration with a diverse array of organizations and decision makers.

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A cartilagem de tubarão é um complexo proteico formado por proteínas, mucopolissacarídeos, como o sulfato de condroitina, e glicosaminoglicanos, além de substâncias minerais como o fosfato de cálcio. A cartilagem de tubarão é considerada um importante suplemento alimentar. Estudos científicos desenvolvidos nos Estados Unidos demonstraram resultados bastante promissores, como auxiliar de diferentes tipos de patologias (inibição da proliferação de tumores, osteoartrite, artrose, degeneração muscular). A cartilagem de tubarão também apresenta a proporção ideal de cálcio e fósforo para serem melhor absorvidos pelo nosso organismo, ou seja, duas moléculas de cálcio para uma de fósforo: esta relação permite um aumento da fixação do cálcio nos ossos. Composição Por 3 cápsulas: Cartilagem de tubarão (pó) - 2220 mg; (Sulfato Condróitina > 4%); (Glucosamina > 2,5% Estereato de Magnésio; Celulosemicrocrstalina; Gelatina

Ingredientes

Cartilagem de tubarão (pó) - 2220 mg, (Sulfato Condróitina > 4%), (Glucosamina > 2,5%),Estereato de Magnésio, Celulosemicrocristalina, Gelatina

Modo De Utilização

Tomar 1 cápsula às 3 principais refeições.

Não deve ser usado em mulheres grávidas ou em período de aleitamento. A toma diária não deve ser excedida. Este suplemento não deve ser utilizado como substituto de um regime alimentar variado. Manter fora do alcance das crianças. Preservar da luz e do calor. Conservar em local seco e a temperatura inferior a 25 º. Não recomendado em caso de hipersensibilidade ou alergia a qualquer um dos constituintes da formulação.

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Cartilagem de tubarão 860mg - 90 cápsulas - CHI

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A cartilagem de tubarão é um complexo proteico formado por proteínas, mucopolissacarídeos, como o sulfato de condroitina, e glicosaminoglicanos, além de substâncias minerais como o fosfato de cálcio. A cartilagem de tubarão é considerada um importante suplemento alimentar.

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Foram definidos os limites para a pesca de tubarões-anequim no Atlântico Sul

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A proposta sucede a decisão histórica de 2021, que proibiu a captura desta espécie no Atlântico Norte durante dois anos. No Atlãntico Norte, Portugal é o segundo maior exportador de carne de tubarão.

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Sharks Educational Institute - Official website of the Sharks Educational Institute

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The Sharks Educational Institute is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the education for the marine conservation, founded by Fernando Reis in 2016.

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SHARKFEST kicks off Sunday, July 10th on National Geographic

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Products in the global shark meat market are used for various purposes, most notably for consumption, owing to their various health benefits. Several other body parts of sharks are also used for various indications. Tis is anticipated to increase the demand for products in the global shark meat market and aid the expansion of shark fishing industry. Liver oil from sharks is used in various cosmetics as well as pharmaceutical products such as omega 3 oil pills. Shark skins are used to make leather and cartilages are used in manufacturing of certain cancer medications. These rising applications of shark parts is expected to foster growth in shark fishing as well as the global shark meat market.

The research report presents a holistic evaluation of the current trends that may influence the growth of global shark meat market over the forecast period of 2021 to 2031. It maps the trajectory of global shark meat market through historic years and base years to project the future performance of the industry till 2031. The business intelligence report takes a closer look at various segments in global shark meat market and evaluates these segments based on their status, size, share, revenue, and forecast to 2031. It also informs the readers about key drivers as well as the restraints faced by stakeholders and participants in the global shark meat market.
Global Shark Meat Market: Major Trends and Drivers
Rising awareness regarding the benefits offered by consuming seafood as well as high nutritional value provided by shark meat are some of the major drivers for the global shark meat market. Furthermore, the growth in the global shark meat market can also be attributed to rising demand for shark fin soup as well as the rise in sustainable fishing practices. However, depletion of fish stocks and overexploitation may hinder the growth in the global shark meat market in coming years. On the other hand, rising popularity of aquaculture over traditional marine agricultural practices as well as wild fish harvesting is also supplementing the growth in the global shark meat market.

Players in the global shark meat market are adopting land based aquaculture for producing shark meat even though it is considered more expensive than marine aquaculture. This can be attributed to various advantages offered by land based aquaculture in the global shark meat market, such as elimination of various hazards that usually occur in marine aquaculture, such as fish escapes, violent storms, and attacks by jellyfish and other predators. This has led to increased adoption of sustainable aquaculture practices i.e. land based aquaculture, which in turn is expected to fuel the demand in the global shark meat market.
Global Shark Meat Market: Key Players and Manufacturers
Some of the leading and major players and manufacturers functional within the global shark meat market include All Easy Go Frozen Seafood Co. Ltd., Citarella, Fujian Haoyuan Food Co. Ltd., Macs Seafood Ltd., Premier Seafood Ltd., Aquafin Trade Inc., East Coast Seafood LLC, Gaudets Seafood, Marder Trawling Inc., and Wenzhou Haideli Shark Products Co. Ltd., among others. Players and manufacturers in the global shark meat market are adopting various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies to attract a larger consumer base and expand their industry share.
Global Shark Meat Market: Regional Assessment
Asia Pacific region is expected to showcase brilliant growth opportunities for the players in the global shark meat market in coming years. This trend can be attributed to increasing awareness regarding the benefits offered by the consumption of seafood, rising disposable income, and rising population in the region. China in Asia Pacific is considered one of the chief markets for the products in the global shark meat market. Another region expected to showcase excellent growth rate in the global shark meat market is South America.

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Products in the global shark meat market are used for various purposes, most notably for consumption, owing to their various health benefits. Several other body parts of sharks are also used for various indications. Tis is anticipated to increase the demand for products in the global shark meat market and aid the expansion of shark fishing industry.

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After consulting with the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), the Liberian government has taken a historic step to commit to a national plan of action to protect Liberia's sharks and rays. The plan will be implemented with the help of EJF over the next three years, and will not only protect marine wildlife, but safeguard the food security and livelihoods of tens of thousands of Liberians.

The announcement comes after EJF shared a report with Liberia's National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) laying out the benefits of sustainably managing sharks and rays to Liberian coastal communities and marine ecosystems.

Sharks and rays play a vital role in the health of many marine habitats. Loss of sharks can lead to dramatic imbalances in the ecosystem that can cause the degradation of coral reefs and destruction of seagrass beds, both of which provide important nursery habitats for young fish. This is particularly significant in Liberia, where 33,000 people rely on the fishing industry for their livelihoods, and 65% of all animal protein eaten comes from seafood.

Sharks and rays are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they tend to grow slowly, reach sexual maturity late and have low rates of reproduction. Worldwide, a quarter of all these species are classified as threatened as a direct result of overfishing.

In Liberia, while data is especially sparse, EJF's monitoring at West Point between 2013 and 2016 recorded 19 species, all of which are found on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In the country sharks and rays are threatened by both industrial and small-scale traditional fishing fleets, and illegal fishing practices are particularly damaging to their populations, the EJF report says.

These animals currently lack any form of legal protection in Liberia, but the implementation of an effective national plan of action, with wide-ranging consultations with local fishing communities, could safeguard their future in these waters. This supports not only wildlife, but the coastal communities that rely on healthy marine ecosystems to provide food.

"Undertaking this bold commitment to act now to conserve its threatened sharks and rays highlights not only strong national governance but also confirms Liberia as an emerging leader on marine conservation in the region and in the eyes of the world. EJF looks forward to working with the Liberian government to help make implementation of the national plan a success," says Amdeep Sanghera, EJF's coordinator for the project.

"I am pleased and proud to announce the national plan of action for Liberia's sharks and rays," said Emma Glassco, director general of NaFAA. "Careful monitoring and sustainable management of these species is key to reaching a long-term solution for both Liberian fishing communities and the ecosystems on which they depend."

EJF's Executive Director Steve Trent, said: "All around the world our oceans are under threat, and especially the apex predators like sharks and rays that play a crucial role in the balance and health of marine ecosystems. Liberia's move to recognise their importance is to be applauded."

Watch the film.

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Liberia steps up to protect sharks and rays

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After consulting with the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), the Liberian government has taken a historic step to commit to a national plan of action to protect Liberia's sharks and rays. The plan will be implemented with the help of EJF over the next three years, and will not only protect marine wildlife, but safeguard the food security and livelihoods of tens of thousands of Liberians.

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China, Hong Kong SAR shark fin trade profile 

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China, Hong Kong SAR shark fin trade profile 

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These shark fins were seized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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COURTESY CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE

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These shark fins were photographed in a market in Chinatown, San Francisco, in February 2011. California introduced a shark fin ban in 2013.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHANNES EISELE, AFP/GETTY

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If you're in Los Angeles and the mood strikes, you can order shark fin soup from China Gate Restaurant for home delivery for $16.95.

But that would be against state law. California is one of 12 states that bans the sale of shark fins-measures to help prevent further declines of shark populations and to deter finning, which has been illegal in U.S. waters since 2000. Although demand for shark fins for soup is greatest in Asian countries, there's significant demand for them in the United States too.

A man who identified himself as the China Gate Restaurant owner's brother says the online listing is a mistake and denies that the restaurant serves the dish.

Finning involves slicing fins off live sharks and tossing the wounded animals overboard, where they sink to the bottom and, unable to swim and pass water over their gills, suffocate, die of blood loss, or get eaten by other predators.

"It's without doubt, the worst act of animal cruelty I've ever seen," says celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in his television documentary on the shark fishing industry.

Every year, the Animal Welfare Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that supports a national ban on shark fin, updates its list of restaurants that serve shark fin soup and notifies the relevant state enforcement agencies.

But so far, according to the institute, the bans haven't stopped restaurants in at least 10 of the 12 states.

During the past two years, at least five bills relating to the country's shark fin trade have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. All five died before becoming laws, leaving the fate of sharks in the U.S. uncertain.

Many countries don't regulate shark finning, says Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid, an environmental group that strives to reduce consumption of wildlife products. What this means, activists say, is that Americans could be getting their fins from countries that catch and mutilate sharks, diminishing their already dwindling global populations.

Because of overfishing and the demand for shark fin for soup, more than a quarter of the world's sharks, rays, and chimaeras (a cartilaginous fish also known as ghost sharks) are considered to be threatened. In a 2012 study, researchers found the DNA of eight different sharks, including the endangered scalloped hammerhead, as well as vulnerable species like the shortfin mako and the spiny dogfish, in soup samples collected from around the U.S.

Shark fin soup has long been a status dish in Asian countries, notably China, where its use can be traced back to an emperor from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) who is thought to have invented the dish to show off his power and wealth. Shark fin eventually became exalted as one of the four treasures of Chinese cuisine, along with abalone, sea cucumber, and fish maw (swim bladders).

Today, it's a luxury dish served at weddings as a sign of respect for guests. Preparation of the soup involves boiling the fins and scraping off the skin and meat, leaving behind softened protein fiber, which is sometimes shredded before it goes into the soup.

What is a luxury to some is a headache to understaffed enforcement agencies in the U.S. states that ban shark fin. They say that cases against shark fin vendors in those states can be hard to make. Because the shark fin trade tends to go underground, it has been compared to the illicit drug trade.

"I know it's going on, I know it's out there. But it's a very private matter-it's not the kind of thing that, you know, people are selling to the public."

"I know it's going on, I know it's out there," says San Francisco marine warden William O'Brien. "But it's a very private matter-it's not the kind of thing that, you know, people are selling to the public."

In addition, according to several law enforcement agents, fines and jail sentences for violating the shark fin ban are generally light and have little deterrent effect.

Knights says a U.S. ban on sales of shark fin would be a significant step forward because it would send the message that selling and consuming shark fin isn't acceptable anymore. The sale of shark fin, he says, "continues to increase the sort of pressure on sharks worldwide."

But, argues Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory, in Sarasota, Florida, given how difficult it is for some states to enforce their shark fin bans, a nationwide ban would just drive the shark fin market underground-as it's done in San Francisco.

The enforcement challenge

California has about a third of the country's Asian population and is one of the largest consumers of shark fin outside Asia.

When the shark fin ban passed in California in 2011, San Francisco marine warden William O'Brien says he was "charged up." He'd been keeping a list of restaurants to inspect once the ban went into force.

Almost immediately, he and his team received a tip about a supplier, and they confiscated more than 2,000 pounds of shark fin from a warehouse near San Francisco Bay. He estimates that the haul was worth at least $500,000. The accused, Michael Kwong, a shark fin wholesaler and vocal opponent of the shark fin ban who said his family had been in the business for four generations, pleaded no contest to violating the shark fin ban. According to court records, he spent 30 days in jail, paid a court fine, and received three years' probation.

Since then, O'Brien says, the leads have dried up. He suspects restaurants and market owners are now storing their shark fin supplies off premises-perhaps in their homes, which would be off-limits to law enforcement without a search warrant.

"Essentially, the market has gone so far underground that it requires more specialization than I have to dig it up," O'Brien says.

O'Brien's overall responsibilities include monitoring for illegal ivory, the pet trade, and illegal animal products in medication, and he must also check hunting and fishing licenses almost daily. He reckons that in any given month, he's able to devote only about two days to shark fin.

"It would be great if I was like, the shark fin guy, and that was all I did," O'Brien laments.

A complicating factor is that a restauranteur accused of selling shark fin soup may claim it's imitation or made from a species of shark exempt from the ban. Spiny and smooth dogfish sharks, for example, are exempt in New York State. It's possible to identify a species from a freshly cut fin, but once a fin is dried or absorbed in soup, the only way to prove it's a species in violation of the law is through DNA testing.

DNA makes the case

To ascertain whether a crime has been committed, authorities must establish whether the DNA in a seized sample of soup is actually that of a shark. The specimens Ashley Spicer tests and analyzes as a part of her work in the Wildlife Forensics Lab at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife vary from suspected shark fin soup in plastic to-go containers to frozen fins in vacuum-sealed packaging.

Spicer examined California's 2018 shark cases-all four of them. Only two of those cases were specifically shark fin; the others were a shark attack case and a poaching case. In all, the two shark fin cases she handled in 2018 involved about 20 different shark fins.

Low test numbers don't necessarily represent every California shark fin case that comes to the attention of authorities. If, for example, a case elicits an immediate confession on the part of the accused, authorities may decide that testing isn't necessary.

DNA testing proved successful in a recent case in Plano, Texas, one of the states where shark fin is banned. Mike Stephens, a game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, went into a local dim sum restaurant-in uniform-with a colleague and asked for the "special" menu. And there it was: shark fin soup.

To assure them the shark fin was real, not imitation, the restaurant owner's wife led the wardens to a walk-in freezer where they found about six bags of shark fins. Stephens assumes that the owner, Qi Zhou, and his wife didn't realize the real reason behind the wardens' visit until it was too late. Before they left, Stephens says, Zhou's wife told them they weren't the only ones selling shark fin. The supermarket next door was offering it too, she said.

Sure enough, when the wardens went to the supermarket, Tao Marketplace, to investigate, they found nearly 40 shark carcasses, the tail fins removed, on display in the fresh fish aisle and in storage.

Wearing rubber gloves so as not to contaminate the evidence, they sealed the fins from both places in separate containers and overnighted them to a lab in North Carolina for DNA testing.

The case against the supermarket is still pending, but the restaurant owner was found guilty of selling shark fin and paid a fine: one dollar. The court also ordered Zhou to make a donation to the Animal Welfare Institute, which totaled less than a thousand dollars, Stephens says.

According to the institute, in Texas and most other states, prison sentences for shark fin transgressions are rare and usually don't exceed six months for a first offense. Fines are usually less than a thousand dollars. By contrast, a single pound of dried shark fin can sell for $400, and shark fin soup can command anywhere from $50 to $200.

"It's tough to get jail time on wildlife cases," says Jesse Paluch, a captain with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigation unit. In New York, he says, judges and prosecutors "see so much crime, so wildlife crime is a little bit lower on the spectrum."

Fins in the dumpster

In October 1988, when Robert Hueter was getting his start at the Mote Marine Laboratory, he heard from a colleague that a group of fishermen off the Florida Panhandle had been caught harpooning bottlenose dolphins, whose meat and blood they used to bait sharks. Killing bottlenose dolphins was and still is illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. When the fishermen caught sharks, they sliced off their fins and threw the mutilated animals, still alive, back into the water.

This is sick, Hueter says he thought at the time. He'd never heard of shark finning, so he contacted Nelson Bryant, a reporter he knew at The New York Times, who wrote a pioneering story about the practice. Today, shark finning is the subject of documentaries, public protests, and Facebook posts.

Hueter says the fishermen were handed minor fines for killing the dolphins-and no penalty for finning the sharks. "There was no crime in what they'd done with the sharks," he says.

Since then, Hueter has been an advocate for sharks. Which is why, he says, he's against a national shark fin ban.

"The folks that are pushing the fin ban campaign want to simplify it to this very simple message-that if we ban the fin trade in the United States, we save sharks all around the world," Heuter says. "That is so simplistic and so wrong."

He says that of course he's against finning and overfishing but that cutting the fins off a legally caught dead shark isn't cruel, and banning a specific dish won't stop shark finning because shark finning is already illegal in U.S. waters. But, he says, a ban will ensure that fins from dead sharks are wasted.

"It would cause [fishermen] to have to throw the fins into the dumpster. It goes totally against our doctrine of full utilization of fishery products-that when we harvest fishes from the sea, we don't want to throw stuff away. We want to use absolutely everything we can."

David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist with Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, Canada, and the man behind the popular Twitter account @whysharksmatter, says it's unreasonable for people to criticize using shark fins for soup when they may eat shark meat in other forms.

"There are people who are outraged at the idea of consuming a bowl of shark fin soup who are not outraged at the idea of eating a mako shark steak on the grill," he says. "From my perspective, as a shark conservation biologist, either way you've got a dead shark. Shark fin soup has sort of become this boogie man of ocean conservation."

As an alternative to a national ban, in 2018 Hueter helped draft the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act, which Representative Daniel Webster, a Florida Republican, says he plans to reintroduce this session. This bill, Hueter says, would allow imports only from countries that prohibit finning and promote shark conservation.

But Susan Millward, director of the marine animal program at the Animal Welfare Institute, says a blanket ban is still the best answer.

"Even if you have a sustainable shark fin trade, there's still going to be a trade in shark finning," she says. "There's always going to be people who want to flout it."

"When the buying stops, the killing can too"

Chinese basketball star Yao Ming pushes a white ceramic cup of shark fin soup across a table. In an aquarium tank to his right, a bleeding computer-generated shark sinks to the bottom. "Remember," he says, staring into the camera lens, "when the buying stops, the killing can too."

Since 2011, consumption of shark fin soup in China has fallen by about 80 percent, both because of national bans on serving shark fin at government banquets and the effect of celebrity-backed awareness campaigns such as Yao Ming's, seen by millions of Chinese.

According to a 2018 WildAid report, when WildAid began its Chinese anti-shark fin campaign in 2006, 75 percent of consumers didn't realize the soup they were eating was made from shark, and many who did know mistakenly thought that sharks' fins grew back after they were cut off.

Many conservationists believe that similar awareness-raising efforts in the U.S. would curb demand. People generally don't give much thought to what they're eating, Millward says. "It's just a lack of connecting the dots with where this product came from, how it started with a live animal and how much suffering was endured to reach this finished product ... These animals are dying painfully, and their whole ecosystems are being affected-for what?"

Her question begs another: Why shark fin? It's widely known that the fin adds no taste or health benefits to shark fin soup; rather, it gives the soup a crystalline, noodle-like texture, which can be replicated almost indistinguishably with mung bean paste or melon. What's more, because shark fins are cartilage and rigid protein fibers, they need to be cooked for hours, even a full day, to soften them enough to be edible. "If you cook my belt for 24 hours, it would be edible too," Knights says.

Ironically, as conservationists, chefs, and even consumers themselves acknowledge, the flavor of shark fin soup-a dish that has ignited international controversy, spurred people to write countless letters to the United States Congress, and led to a massive awareness campaign-comes not from the fins but from the chicken broth used as the soup's base.

Wildlife Watch is an investigative reporting project between National Geographic Society and National Geographic Partners focusing on wildlife crime and exploitation. Read more Wildlife Watch stories here, and learn more about National Geographic Society's nonprofit mission at nationalgeographic.org. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to ngwildlife@natgeo.com.

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Shark fin is banned in 12 U.S. states-but it's still on the menu

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If you're in Los Angeles and the mood strikes, you can order shark fin soup from China Gate Restaurant for home delivery for $16.95. But that would be against state law. California is one of 12 states that bans the sale of shark fins-measures to help prevent further declines of shark populations and to deter finning, which has been illegal in U.S.

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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society - Protecting Marine Wildlife Worldwide

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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's sole mission is to protect and conserve the world's oceans and marine wildlife.

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Growing up to 14 meters long and weighing 12 tons, whale sharks play an important role in the health of our oceans. However, these gentle giants, now endangered, are still hunted ruthlessly for their fins, meat, oil and skins. Their very existence is under threat because of illegal and unsustainable fishing, just like other shark species all over the world.
Since industrial fishing began in the early 1950s, 90% of the world's large ocean fish - such as sharks, cod and swordfish - have been lost. Overall, 90% of the planet's fish stocks are now either fully exploited or overfished, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Sharks are especially hard hit: Worldwide, a quarter are classified as threatened as a result of overfishing alone. Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they tend to grow slowly, reach sexual maturity late and have low rates of reproduction.

"All around the world, our oceans are under threat, and especially the apex predators like sharks and rays that play a crucial role in the balance and health of marine ecosystems."

- EJF Executive Director Steve Trent

Sharks and rays play a vital role in the health of many marine habitats. Loss of sharks can lead to dramatic imbalances in the ecosystem that can cause the degradation of coral reefs and destruction of seagrass beds, both of which provide important nursery habitats for young fish.
Illegal fishing and shark finning are a major threat
Each year, an average of 100 million sharks are fished for food worldwide. In West Africa, a region especially dependent on healthy marine ecosystems for food security, shark and ray populations are declining sharply. Although local fishers do have an impact, industrial vessels take the lion's share. Illegal fishing by international vessels is rife in the Gulf of Guinea, and they often target sharks and rays.

The shark fin industry is particularly gruesome and wasteful. EJF's past investigations have revealed systematic illegal shark finning on board industrial trawlers. Once the fins have been cut from the body, the sharks are thrown back into the ocean, often still alive. Unable to swim without their fins, they wallow on the seabed until they suffocate or bleed to death.

Legal protection still lacking in West African countries

Currently, there is no legal protection for sharks in many West African countries - such as Ghana or the Ivory Coast - where they are being hunted to near extinction. EJF is calling for a global ban on shark finning and legal protection for these threatened species and aim to build our work across the West African region in order to secure effective measures for these guardians of the sea.

We are also calling for the protection and expansion of inshore exclusion zones - waters reserved for traditional small-scale fishers - and Marine Protected Areas to allow marine wildlife the chance to recover and to provide refuge for endangered or vulnerable species.
Working globally to protect endangered species
In 2018, the government of Liberia has committed to a National Plan of Action for sharks and rays, which will be implemented with the help of the Environmental Justice Foundation.

We've begun by working closely with local scientists and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, to develop a sustainable management plan and appropriate legal framework to safeguard shark populations.

Because data on the state of shark stocks remains scarce, we are also training local fishing communities in data collection on shark populations and catches. Knowledge of trends in the diversity of the species landed, and their sizes, as well as the number of canoes and how long they spend at sea will all help chart a course towards the long-term sustainability of the fishery.

It is vital that such management plans exist. Not only are these top predators magnificent animals, but their loss can have serious impacts on entire marine ecosystems. Wildlife and coastal communities alike will suffer the consequences of their demise.

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International Whale Shark Day: More Vulnerable than Vicious

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Growing up to 14 meters long and weighing 12 tons, whale sharks play an important role in the health of our oceans. However, these gentle giants, now endangered, are still hunted ruthlessly for their fins, meat, oil and skins. Their very existence is under threat because of illegal and unsustainable fishing, just like other shark species all over the world.

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"Since industrial fishing began in the early 1950s, 90% of the world’s large ocean fish - such as sharks, cod and swordfish - have been lost. Overall, 90% of the planet’s fish stocks are now either fully exploited or overfished, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Sharks are especially hard hit: Worldwide, a quarter are classified as threatened as a result of overfishing alone. Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they tend to grow slowly, reach sexual maturity late and have low rates of reproduction."

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IUCN- A quarter of sharks and rays are going extinct

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IUCN- A quarter of sharks and rays are going extinct

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"The global market for shark fins used in shark fin soup is a major factor in the depletion of not only sharks but also some rays with valuable fins, such as guitarfish. Sharks, rays and chimaeras are also sought for their meat. Other products from these species include a Chinese tonic made from manta and devil ray gills and pharmaceuticals made from deep sea shark livers."

"The Indo-Pacific, particularly the Gulf of Thailand and the Mediterranean Sea are the two ‘hotspots’ where the depletion of sharks and rays is most dramatic. The Red Sea is also home to a relatively high number of threatened sharks and rays, according to the experts.

“Sharks, rays and chimaeras tend to grow slowly and produce few young, which leaves them particularly vulnerable to overfishing,” says Sonja Fordham, IUCN SSG Deputy Chair and president of the Washington, DC-based Shark Advocates International, a project of The Ocean Foundation. “Significant policy strides have been made over the last two decades but effective conservation requires a dramatic acceleration in pace as well as an expansion of scope to include all shapes and sizes of these exceptional species. Our analysis clearly demonstrates that the need for such action is urgent.”

Sharks, rays and chimaeras are known as ‘cartilaginous fish’ due to the fact that their skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone. They are one of the world’s oldest and most ecologically-diverse groups of animals."

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The study, which comes at the start of the year marking the 50th anniversary of The IUCN Red List, was published today in the journal eLIFE. It includes the analysis of the conservation status of 1,041 shark, ray and closely related chimaera species.

According to the findings, sharks, rays and chimaeras are at a substantially higher risk than most other groups of animals and have the lowest percentage of species considered safe - with only 23% categorized as Least Concern.

"Our analysis shows that sharks and their relatives are facing an alarmingly elevated risk of extinction," says Dr Nick Dulvy, IUCN SSG Co-Chair and Canada Research Chair at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. "In greatest peril are the largest species of rays and sharks, especially those living in shallow water that is accessible to fisheries."

Overfishing is the main threat to the species, according to the paper. Reported catches of sharks, rays and chimaeras peaked in 2003 and have been dominated by rays for the last 40 years. Actual catches are likely to be grossly under-reported.

Unintentionally caught sharks and rays account for much of the catch, yet developing markets and depleting fishery targets have made this "bycatch" increasingly welcome. Intentional killing of sharks and rays due to the perceived risk that they pose to people, fishing gear or target species is contributing to the threatened status of at least 12 species.

"Surprisingly, we have found that the rays, including sawfish, guitarfish, stingrays, and wedgefish, are generally worse off than the sharks, with five out of the seven most threatened families made up of rays," says Dr Colin Simpfendorfer, IUCN SSG Co-Chair and Professor of Environmental Science at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. "While public, media and government attention to the plight of sharks is growing, the widespread depletion of rays is largely unnoticed. Conservation action for rays is lagging far behind, which only heightens our concern for this species group."

The global market for shark fins used in shark fin soup is a major factor in the depletion of not only sharks but also some rays with valuable fins, such as guitarfish. Sharks, rays and chimaeras are also sought for their meat. Other products from these species include a Chinese tonic made from manta and devil ray gills and pharmaceuticals made from deep sea shark livers.

The Indo-Pacific, particularly the Gulf of Thailand and the Mediterranean Sea are the two 'hotspots' where the depletion of sharks and rays is most dramatic. The Red Sea is also home to a relatively high number of threatened sharks and rays, according to the experts.

"Sharks, rays and chimaeras tend to grow slowly and produce few young, which leaves them particularly vulnerable to overfishing," says Sonja Fordham, IUCN SSG Deputy Chair and president of the Washington, DC-based Shark Advocates International, a project of The Ocean Foundation. "Significant policy strides have been made over the last two decades but effective conservation requires a dramatic acceleration in pace as well as an expansion of scope to include all shapes and sizes of these exceptional species. Our analysis clearly demonstrates that the need for such action is urgent."

Sharks, rays and chimaeras are known as 'cartilaginous fish' due to the fact that their skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone. They are one of the world's oldest and most ecologically-diverse groups of animals.

The study is the result of a collaboration of 302 experts from 64 countries.

For more information or interviews please contact:
Ewa Magiera, IUCN Media Relations, t +41 22 999 0346 m +41 79 856 76 26, e ewa.magiera@iucn.org
Lynne Labanne, IUCN Species Programme Communications Officer, IUCN, t +41 22 999 0153, m +41 79 527 7221, e lynne.labanne@iucn.org

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A quarter of sharks and rays threatened with extinction

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A quarter of the world's sharks and rays are threatened with extinction according to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, with ray species found to be at a higher risk than sharks. The findings are part of the first ever global analysis of these species carried out by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG).

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Patterns of top-down control in a seagrass ecosystem: predators like sharks can keep the big herbivores moving?

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Patterns of top-down control in a seagrass ecosystem: predators like sharks can keep the big herbivores moving?

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Sharks have gained a rather bad reputation over the years, perhaps it's because of the way they are portrayed in movies like Jaws or maybe because their multiple rows of teeth may not make them look like the cuddliest of creatures. In as early as the year 1758, they were labelled as "man-eaters" and since then have been deceived by the media as malicious predators when in reality, they are a very curious and intelligent species that aren't worth all the worry you have before you dip your toes into the ocean. Demonizing sharks with human motives is what is driving them closer to extinction. The attacks they've made on humans is nothing compared to the damage we have caused to their population. We are a far greater threat to them.

Thanks to the idea that sharks are ruthless murder machines that could eat man, sport-fishing became popular and killing sharks was suddenly the new trend. Sharks were not thought of as the ideal source of food so there was hardly any funding in it for the fishermen, instead, they were thought of as pests because they would feed off of their bait and catches, for this reason along with their "man-killing" reputation, fishermen never any remorse for harming them.

Shark finning is a very gruesome act, it is the process in which the fishermen cut off only the fins of the shark and throw the remainder of the living carcass back into the water where the shark suffers a slow death by sinking to the bottom of the ocean, bleeding out, suffocating or being eaten by other fish. The remainder of the shark is considered a low-grade product so keeping the highest valued part of the shark and disposing of the rest leaves the fishermen with way more room on the ship to store more product of higher value before they return to the land to sell their catches both legally and illegally around the globe due to different laws. Some fishermen will go to the extent of taking the oil from the shark's liver, removing teeth and jaws to sell to tourists or businesses in highly populated tourism areas. I'm sure you've seen shark tooth necklaces in the gift shops while you were on vacation before!

The demand for the popular banquet dish, first-served to Chinese emperors, "Shark Fin Soup", heightened in China and other Asian countries. It became a symbol of status and was known for its "cure-all" health benefits which included increasing sexual potency, improving appetite, boosting vital energy, fighting cancer and is said to be beneficial for the health of your blood, kidneys, lungs, bones, and other major organs, although not proven by any evidence. This made shark fins a huge target to fishermen because it increased their monetary value. Dried shark fins are supposedly one of the most expensive seafood products by weight, sold for an estimated $1000 per kilogram in some markets and $100 a bowl in certain restaurants! It has unfortunately become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Shark finning is a great representation of profligate waste. Shark fin soup supposedly has all of these amazing health benefits yet the shark fin itself is made mostly of cartilage; the same gristle in cows and humans! Cartilage doesn't hold any nutritional value which means most of the health benefits are coming from the broth and added herbs! Shark fins can also be dangerous to eat for pregnant or breastfeeding women and children due to the mercury toxin in the shark meat that could cause permanent nerve and brain damage. This is not an attack on the cuisine of any culture, instead, this is an attack on our unsustainable fishing trade industry. The problem is found in the production, distribution and consumption of the Shark Fin Trade. The demand is exceeding the supply. Sharks are very slow-growing fish, they take longer to mature and only produce few young every so often compared to how other varieties of fish multiply, making them extremely vulnerable to human exploitation. A study done in 2004 suggested then that 90% of the large marine species have been overfished, now they predict that in some areas up to 99% of the population has been drastically affected. Over 1/3 of all sharks are being threatened with extinction. Any shark to the finning industry is fair game, but there are certain fins they value more than others, especially the whale shark which is now classified as endangered. It is disheartening to know that species' that have been around for over 400 million years, that have survived 5 global mass extinctions, are now starting to diminish due to the cruelty and lack of responsibility from humans. Sharks attack less than 100 people and kill a lot less than 10 people every year globally whereas humans brutally murder 100 million sharks every year, yet we dare to call them the monsters?

Whether you like them or not, the ocean needs sharks and we need the ocean. As the ocean's most dominant predators, they control the majority of marine biodiversity; they keep the population of their prey healthier by controlling the outbreak of diseases from unhealthy contributors, keep the food chain balanced by preventing certain species' from over-populating, and they keep habitats like coral reefs healthy. When sharks scavenge dead bodies, they release a carbon compound which is vital to the cycle of life both on land and in the ocean. We depend on sharks to keep that cycle going. They are like the white blood cells of the sea! We need to stop the shark fin trade before their horrendous slaughter drives all species of sharks affected into extinction. Only a full trade ban will stop the global trade of fins, it wouldn't matter where the fins came from, why they were taken or which species they came from- it would stop all fisheries in the industry from passing through all the major loopholes that the under-funded and under-staffed enforcement agencies are having a hard time monitoring and policing in each state or country. Having clear rules would leave a positive exponential impact on the shark population.

If you want to help, say NO to shark fin soup! Say NO to shark jewellery, shark leather or any other shark products! Get involved by doing your research, sign petitions, participate in protests, support shark research and conservation organizations but most importantly, spread awareness! Educate your friends and family.

"If one voice can change a room then it can change a city, if it can change a city then it can change a state, if it can change a state then it can change a nation and if it can change a nation then it can change the world. Your voice can change the world."

We need to save these creatures in need. The extinction of sharks will start a domino effect on all other ocean life, losing them could cause the structure of the whole food chain to collapse. After all, the power of evolution, consistent research and historical creature connections tell us that we have more in common with sharks than you would imagine! Is greed worth the harm, just for fins? Why are "luxury" foods more important than keeping our planet's most vital ecosystems alive and healthy? The air we breathe, the food we eat, the weather, the climate patterns, the medicine we take to feel better, the economy, our very survival depends on our ocean so we better start taking care of it!

Sharks belong in the sea, not in your soup!

If there are no fins in our ocean, there is no future for us!

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Sharks have gained a rather bad reputation over the years, perhaps it's because of the way they are portrayed in movies like Jaws or maybe because their multiple rows of teeth may not make them look like the cuddliest of creatures.

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-The lack of predators like sharks makes the seaweed bed to extend killing and overlaying the coral reefs

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Jasmin is a marine biologist specializing in elasmobranch ecology and evolution. Her past research interests include smalltooth sawfish movement ecology and hammerhead shark phylogeny. She is a member of the American Elasmobranch Society and served on their Student Action Committee for two years. Jasmin completed internships with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Fort Johnson Marine Lab and FWC Division of Marine Fisheries Management. She worked as an instructor for the Saturday at the Sea program through the Florida State University Office of STEM Teaching Activities. Jasmin has a passion for science education and making science more accessible for everyone. She is excited to join the MarSci-LACE project and help open doors for more underrepresented minority students to join the exciting field of marine science.

Education

MSc. Biological Science Florida State University in 2020
B.S. Marine Biology College of Charleston in 2017
B.A. Spanish College of Charleston in 2017

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We are guardians of the sea and all living things that depend upon it. We are scientists, explorers and stewards of the ocean. Driven by research, education and excitement we work to create a better environment for ourselves and our children.

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ach day, as the sun sets over the coral-fringed Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia, an underwater predator stirs. As predators go, it's not especially big or ferocious - an arm's length from head to tail, with a snuffling, moustachioed snout.

What's unique is that it doesn't so much swim along the seabed as walk. Using its four fins as legs, and twisting its spine like a lizard, it can emerge from the water and hold its breath for an hour, strutting across the exposed reef and clambering between tide pools to find prey.

It's a walking shark, and far from the stereotypical view of these baleful beasts, it tells an alternative story of how sharks look and live. Biologists recently confirmed there are nine species of walking sharks. They are the ocean's newest sharks - probably only 9m years old as a group, with the two youngest species splitting apart less than 2m years ago - challenging the long-held notion that sharks are ancient and unchanging. They are not evolutionary survivors from bygone eras, but animals that continue to adapt.

The walking shark, the newest species of shark in the ocean. Photograph: Gerry Allen/Conservation International

The walking sharks themselves are just a fraction of the immense diversity of sharks. There are bramble sharks and gollumsharks, night sharks and shy sharks, clouded angelsharks and splendid lanternsharks; there are fat catsharks, mouse catsharks, frog, cow and weasel sharks. In all, more than 1,000 elasmobranch species are alive today. One in 10 shark species are bioluminescent: they light up in the dark. Another is so small you could tuck it in a pocket, and it has little pockets of its own - filled, for an unknown reason, with glowing goo. Some sharks puff up to look bigger and scarier than they really are. Mother sharks can be pregnant for three years at a time, or have virgin births.

There are bramble sharks and gollumsharks, night sharks and shy sharks, clouded angelsharks and splendid lanternsharks

But if all you knew about sharks you learned from Hollywood, you'd think they were aquatic horrors. Sharks have a film genre all their own: there are movies about ghost sharks and zombie sharks, sharks that squirt acid, killer sharks that swim through sand or snow, and a staggering six instalments of the Sharknado film franchise.

Even more problematic is when the more believable films depict sharks as monstrous villains: in 2016, The Shallows featured a female surfer being brutally attacked by a vengeful great white, leading a group of marine scientists to write an open letter to Columbia Pictures warning that the movie was a dangerous mischaracterisation that could keep the tide of public opinion turned against sharks.

In reality, sharks are overfished in their millions. They aren't adapted to being prey, rather than predator: sharks grow slowly, spending ages as teenagers before reaching maturity; they lay few eggs and give birth to few pups, not enough to replenish dwindling populations. Those that stay alive can spend decades, even centuries, absorbing man-made pollutants and plastics. Individual sharks have seen their world become hotter and more acidic in their lifetime: Greenland sharks swimming around today were born when the Arctic Ocean was several degrees cooler. The upshot of all this is bleakly predictable. At last count, a quarter of all sharks and their flattened cousins, the rays, were found to be threatened with extinction.

Q&A
What is the truth about sharks series?
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Mysterious and often misunderstood, the shark family is magically diverse - from glowing sharks to walking sharks to the whale shark, the ocean's largest fish. But these magnificent animals very rarely threaten humans: so why did dolphins get Flipper while sharks got Jaws?

Sharks are increasingly considered, like whales, to play a crucial role in ocean ecosystems, keeping entire food chains in balance - and have done so for millions of years. But these apex predators are now in grave danger. The threats they face include finning ( in which their fins are sliced off before they are thrown back into the water), warming seas, and being killed as bycatch in huge fishing operations.

To celebrate our emerging understanding of sharks' true nature and investigate the many underreported ways in which humans rely on them, the Guardian is devoting a week to rethinking humanity's relationship with the shark - because if they are to survive, these predators cannot be prey for much longer.

Photograph: Good Wives and Warriors

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Sharks matter to humanity. Much is lost when they vanish from the seas. "There's a lot we can learn from sharks," says Jasmin Graham, shark biologist and project coordinator of MarSci-Lace at Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, where researchers are investigating how sharks quickly heal wounds and how they evolved immunity to many diseases. "If they're not here, then that evolutionary history, that information, is lost." At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals wearing a suit inspired by the tiny, toothlike denticles in sharks' skin that reduce drag and boost their speed. (The suits were later banned after studies revealed that they trap air bubbles, helping swimmers float.)

Whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, scoop up tiny plankton as they travel. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy

Sharks matter not just because they can be useful for humans, however, but entire ocean ecosystems. "Lots of shark species have been shown to be keystone predators," says Graham. "They maintain balance in ecosystems and keep things in order, removing weaker, sicker prey and stopping any single species from exploding in numbers and taking over." One study comparing remote islands in the Central Pacific showed that when sharks are fished out, coral reefs can become dominated by small fish and overrun by algae. "We don't understand until we lose the species how important it was," says Graham.

Sharks maintain balance in ecosystems and keep things in order

Jasmin Graham, shark biologist

We need to talk about sharks. Though no sharks have yet gone the way of the dodo, plenty of species are lined up for imminent extinction. And the loss of sharks is not just about species blinking out, but a diminishment from their former abundance. Just like the erasing of native fauna from the continents - of bears and wolves, tigers and lions, koalas and kakapos - so the oceans are now losing their sharks. The only difference is that their dying out mostly goes unnoticed.

In more than 20 years of diving and researching the oceans I've had many encounters with wild sharks, each one a moment to treasure and note in my dive logbook. I used to feel adventurous when family and friends asked me if I was scared to dive with sharks. (No, never.) But increasingly, as the question keeps being asked, it unsettles me - that so many people still think this way.

Tasseled wobbegong shark among coral off the coast of West Papua, Indonesia. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy

For years, scientists and conservationists have been saying that sharks have more to fear from humans than we have from them. Pick whichever statistic you like best of things far more likely to kill you: a toppling vending machine, a falling coconut. Still there's this lingering idea that sharks are dangerous, vindictive and brutal. Fear is certainly not being deliberately stoked by the very few people who've been attacked by sharks, many of whom, despite losing limbs, have become outspoken advocates for shark conservation.

"As a kid, I saw Jaws, and I wasn't particularly scared of it," says Graham. "I was just asking why? Why do people think that they're so scary? How are they different from a dolphin? They're both predators. Why did the sharks get a bad rep and dolphins got to have Flipper?"

These majestic animals are doing much worse worldwide than they were back in 1975 when Jaws was released. They need all the positive publicity they can get. New stories need to be told about sharks - the big ones and small ones, the ones that walk and glow, and all the other things they can be.
Share your thoughts and experiences using the hashtag #sharklife on Twitter and Instagram, and follow our shark series at Guardian Seascape: the state of our oceans

The text and picture caption of this article were amended on 8 July 2020. An earlier version said there were more than 1,000 known species of shark, and more than 500 elasmobranch species. This was the wrong way round; there are more than 500 species of shark, but more than 1,000 species in the elasmobranchii sub-class, which includes not only sharks but also rays and skates.

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Why we need sharks: the true nature of the ocean's 'monstrous villains'

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ach day, as the sun sets over the coral-fringed Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia, an underwater predator stirs. As predators go, it's not especially big or ferocious - an arm's length from head to tail, with a snuffling, moustachioed snout. What's unique is that it doesn't so much swim along the seabed as walk.

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-Sharks are vicious predators and they don't do much for the environment
-They're man-eaters and should be killed
-There's a lot of them so it's okay to fish and kill them
-Not many people eat shark meat

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-A sanctuary to grow and commercialize them
-Imposing legislation to consume them

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-Algae consumption
-Commercialization
-Creating laws for algae in particular

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-Shark Finning
-Shark Fishing and Consumption

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Sharks are a vital and ancient part of the marine ecosystem. They have been around longer than the dinosaurs and play a vital role in keeping their environments healthy, but illegal fishing is a threat to their survival. Hear more about our work defending these amazing creatures here.
For over 400 million years, sharks have played an important role in the health of marine ecosystems across the globe. They maintain balance in fish populations, removing sicker, weaker individuals and preventing any single species from becoming dominant.

Illegal fishing vessels often specifically target sharks. Fewer sharks on reefs means more mid-sized carnivores, which feed on herbivorous fish. As the populations of these smaller fish collapse, algae blooms and out-competes the corals for space, sunlight and nutrients.

This can cause the corals - already threatened by climate change and pollution - to degrade and die.

Similarly, without sharks, seagrass ecosystems can be over-grazed by herbivores like manatees. Sharks keep manatees on the move, meaning that no one area is stripped bare. This keeps these essential ecosystems thriving and provides a nursery for the young of many fish species.

Without sharks, ecosystems which are essential to wildlife and to humans would be changed beyond recognition and could disappear.

Finning, fishing and extinction

Sharks are being targeted by vessels fishing illegally, which is having devastating impacts on ecosystems and threatening many species with extinction. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a quarter of sharks, and their close relatives rays, are threatened with extinction.

Much of the population decline can be attributed to human activity, with 90% of the world's largest marine fish (including sharks) having been lost since industrial fishing began in the 1950s. Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overfishing due to their slow maturation and low rates of reproduction.

One of the most disturbing fishing practices is shark-finning, an appalling practice in which sharks are caught and have their fins removed (for delicacies such as shark-fin soup) before being tossed back into the ocean.

There, they sink to the bottom and, unable to swim, slowly suffocate. It produces shocking amounts of needless waste, coupled with carnage and cruelty on an untold scale; all for such a tiny piece of the shark.

EJF has revealed that shark finning is conducted routinely on an industrial scale. The crew from Taiwanese ships EJF investigated caught and finned tens of thousands of sharks, killing dolphins for bait in the process.

Although the practice is illegal under Taiwanese law, these rogue vessels were able to easily evade port inspections. The crew were able to offload the fins for onward sale, including those from vulnerable species such as the smooth hammerhead.

There has been some hopeful progress with news of the Taiwanese government committing to action on illegal fishing, but there is still much to be done worldwide. Sharks continue to face worryingly rapid population declines, unjust persecution and calculated targeting.

How to fix it

The recent landing of an elusive Megamouth in Liberia, only recorded for 103rd time ever, reminds us how poorly understood and potentially vulnerable some shark species are.

This knowledge gap is being addressed as part of Liberia's National Plan of Action to protect sharks and rays, developed after consultation with EJF. Careful monitoring of sharks is a first step. In Liberia, data is currently very sparse, but threatened shark species are known to be present.

Building a better understanding of their populations will help protect these vulnerable animals. This safeguards not just sharks but the marine ecosystems which depend on them.

On a global scale, EJF is calling for all countries to adopt and enforce protections for sharks. The first vital step is creating transparency in fisheries, to bring the illegal fishers catching sharks out of the shadows and enforce laws against these crimes.

We are also calling for a high seas treaty to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. Scientists have warned that we only have around 10 years left to reduce our impacts on the oceans or we risk catastrophic mass extinctions. To avoid disaster, we need to act now.

Illegal fishing remains rife in much of the world. If overfishing of top predators like sharks is allowed to go on undeterred, entire ecosystems and the millions of people that depend on them will suffer immensely.
Cover image courtesy of NOAA's National Ocean Service, reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.

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Illegal fishing: an existential threat for sharks and the oceans

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Sharks are a vital and ancient part of the marine ecosystem. They have been around longer than the dinosaurs and play a vital role in keeping their environments healthy, but illegal fishing is a threat to their survival. Hear more about our work defending these amazing creatures here.

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Shark Finning

Shark fin soup - a traditional Chinese delicacy dating back over a thousand years, popular as a prestigious dish served to impress your guests, eaten at wedding celebrations and at New Year. Hong Kong restaurants may charge up to a staggering US$250 a bowl for the best shark fin soup, said to be made out of the fins of hammerhead sharks, but you can also buy it cheaply from street vendors for less than US$1; it's widely consumed throughout Asia, and appears on menus worldwide. Hong Kong is the shark fin trading hub, accounting for more than half of the world trade. With the increase in prosperity in the Far East in recent years, there is an increasing demand for shark fins, but what is the true cost of shark fin soup?
What is shark finning?
As the trade in shark (and ray) fins can be so lucrative, it is very attractive to fishermen and middlemen - and organised crime syndicates. In contrast to fins, there is less demand for shark meat (fins are worth 20 to 250 times the value of meat by weight) so instead of landing whole sharks, which take up space on board, the fins are cut off the sharks, often while they are still alive and the rest of the shark is thrown overboard. Unable to swim properly, they suffocate or die of blood loss from their huge wounds - the marine equivalent of elephant and rhino poaching.

Much of this 'shark finning' occurs far offshore, away from the reaches of enforcement vessels. For example, a lack of patrol vessels means that the offshore fisheries in Mozambique are largely unregulated and longliners with licenses for tuna may instead target shark, even switching gear and using gill nets to fish for shark. A 2005 report estimated that hundreds of Taiwanese fishing vessels were operating shark-fin fisheries offshore of Africa and the Middle East in the Western Indian Ocean. Fins were transhipped to freezer carriers and transported to Asian ports. But shark finning is not just happening offshore. In southern Mozambique Chinese nationals buy fins from artisanal fishers and smuggle them out of the country via Maputo or the Bazaruto Archipelago. It is said to be a huge and organised industry.

Shark finning is not just occurring in unregulated fisheries. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Southeast Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO) and Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) all require full utilisation of entire shark catches, but do allow fins to be removed at sea provided all parts of the shark are utilized and the weight of fins landed does not exceed 5% of the weight of the carcasses. The reason given for needing to remove the fins is that it makes the sharks easier to store, but Costa Rica has shown that whole sharks can be stored efficiently by partially cutting the fins and flattening them against the body before freezing. The 5% ratio of fin to body weight is considered to be high, so it's not too difficult to sidestep the law.
Effect on shark populations
Cruelty and ethics are only part of the story. Sharks are vulnerable to fishing for several reasons: they grow slowly, are slow to mature, have long gestation periods and produce relatively few pups. It's thought that around 100 million sharks are killed each year and according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species a quarter of the world's sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. They are also vulnerable to pollution; toxic chemicals become increasingly concentrated towards the top of the food chain, and as sharks are apex predators their bodies can contain very high levels of toxins like mercury, affecting reproduction. The decimation of top predators like sharks can have devastating effects on entire ecosystems.
What can be done?

Ban the removal of fins at sea. In Africa shark finning is banned in Gambia, Guinea, Seychelles (without authorisation), Sierra Leone and South Africa. All shark fishing is banned in Congo-Brazzaville.

Protective legislation is needed for endangered species of sharks and rays.

Ban transshipment at sea- transshipment is used to avoid proper catch reporting and to launder IUU caught fish.

Increase observer coverage on ships.

Improve the implementation of port state measures to track down IUU fishing.

Given the difficulties of enforcing regulations, perhaps what is needed most is education. In an attempt to reduce the prestige of shark fin soup the Chinese government prohibited it at official banquets in 2012 and celebrities are starting to speak out against the practice. But there's a long way to go - a recent survey found that shark fin soup still served at 98 per cent of Hong Kong restaurants.

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What is shark finning? As the trade in shark (and ray) fins can be so lucrative, it is very attractive to fishermen and middlemen - and organised crime syndicates.