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“Shark fin market worldwide has started shrinking since 2013, thanks to larger awareness campaigns by environmental NGO’s against its consumption,” says Kim Friedman, Senior Fishery Resource Officer, Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) .
Friedman was in Kochi for the Shark Value Chain Expert Researchers meet at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).
“Shark fins are one of the most expensive seafood items with a value ranging between $50-650/kg depending on the species. Internationally traded fins end up mostly in soups that find markets in China, Hong Kong, Singapore. The delicacy of shark fins has been popular particularly in China, but a nation-wide conservation campaign in that country witnessed an 80 per cent drop in consumption over recent years,” he said.
Freidman noted that the Chinese Government and advocacy of a Chinese basket player who has campaigned on the impact of shark fin trade helped lower the consumption of shark fin. In India, sharks fishing are largely for utilization of a larger range of commodities, including fresh and dried meat forms for local consumption.
“The declining market in fins is a positive sign for conservation, as sharks are vulnerable species that needs stringent conservation measures”, he told Business Line . This allows marine resource managers to put more effort in managing the trade in other consumable shark products that include meat, cartilage, drug supplements, oils etc, and non consumable products like teeth, jaws, skin, and rostra, he added.
Today, the shark fin trade is highly regulated in many countries and efforts by NGO’s have encouraged governments worldwide to list many commercially traded sharks on under international controls of Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
India, is one of the major shark fishing nations and a signatory to CITES, has also put in controls to ban export and import of all shark fins. The government also prohibited removal of shark fins on board a vessel from the seas and calls for landing of the whole fish, he said.
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