BACKGROUNDS

Transport of loose fins – cover-up made easy

The trade with loose shark fins over Europe is allowed according to current legislation – as long as it is not the 12 shark species protected by CITES. When trading whole shark bodies, these protected shark species can still be identified relatively easily, but if only shark fins are transported, even experts encounter their limits. One of the reasons for this is that the shape and colour of the fins change during the drying process and that the size proportion is missing without the corresponding shark body. In addition, the traded fins are usually a mixture of different age groups – this represents a further difficulty, as in young sharks important characteristics are often not yet so distinctive.

The confiscation of three tons of shark fins at Frankfurt Airport in the spring of 2018 is an example of how easily trade in protected shark species can be covered up in this way. Among the fins, which were to be exported from Mexico to Hong Kong via Europe, there were also several protected CITES species. Some of these species can be identified by unique fin characteristics, which are also facilitated by special programs such as FAO’s iSharkFin software[1]. However, many species can no longer be differentiated in this way and complex DNA methods must be used.

A scientific study from 2018 also shows that the fins of many CITES-listed species are still being traded, often without the necessary documentation. By means of DNA analysis, shark fins sold in Hong Kong were examined and for the most part identified as protected species[2]. Hong Kong is the main hub for shark fins.

The extension of the “Fins Naturally Attached” regulation facilitates the identification of sharks for import and export and prevents the cover-up of illegally traded species. In addition, there is clear evidence that many of the batch traded shark fins have been separated from the animal by finning – this will also be impeded by an expansion of the Regulation and the trade in sharks as a whole would become significantly less attractive.

[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: SharkFin Guide: identifying sharks for their fins

[2] Cardeñosa, D. et al., 2018. CITES-listed sharks remain among the top species in the contemporary fin trade. Conservation Letters, 07