A recent study, published in Conservation Letters, found that several threatened shark species are still common in the fin trade after being listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The study’s lead author, Diego Cardeñosa, a Ph.D. student in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University, analyzed over 9,000 genetic samples taken from the Hong Kong market since 2014, the year CITES expanded its list of threatened sharks. Hong Kong is one of the world’s largest importers of fins, which are used to make shark fin soup.
Since September 2014, CITES has regulated scalloped hammerheads, smooth hammerheads, great hammerheads, oceanic whitetips, and porbeagle sharks, some of the world’s most vulnerable and highly traded shark species.
“If this is an accurate reflection of imports, we would expect CITES-listed species would be uncommon among fins being processed in 2015-2016,” says Cardeñosa. “However, our research shows is that these species are still commonly being processed at least one year after regulations were implemented. In fact, CITES-listed scalloped and smooth hammerheads represented the 4th and 5th most common species found in our survey, out of 82 species and species groups in total.”
Cardenosa noted that it seems unrealistic that many countries that exported fins of these species to Hong Kong suddenly stopped doing so when the regulations came in. These findings would be consistent with other studies that have shown that compliance with CITES regulations is relatively low during the initial phase of implementation.
“It is great that there is now a system in place to monitor trade in these threatened shark species,” Florida International University researcher said Dr. Demian Chapman said. “But listing them is just the first step. Our study highlights that countries fishing, trading, and consuming shark products all have a lot of implementation work to do.”
Hong Kong seized 5.1 metric tons of fins from listed species since late 2014. Although the researchers acknowledged that this was a positive start to enforcement, they suggested way to improve implementation of the stricter regulations, including adding additional inspectors, conducting real-time DNA testing in the field and prioritizing testing shipments from regions known to trade in prohibited species.
“There is tremendous public support for better management of the shark fin trade in Hong Kong and the government has been willing to work with us and others to control what is coming in more effectively,” Cardeñosa said. “I am hopeful that with cooperation, increased investment, and time, CITES regulations will be fully implemented for these threatened sharks.”