Asian Diver – March 2018

SEAFOOD GUIDE

ABOVE: The various ways shark products are

being used and consumed

In an effort to gain a better
understanding of the shark fin
trade trend in Guangzhou, WildAid
interviewed 15 shark fin vendors and
traders from two key market areas
in Guangzhou. They found that vendors
have been experiencing an 82 percent
decline in sales and a significant
decrease in prices (47% retail and
57% wholesale) over the past two years.
The study also conducted a
consumer survey in Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Chengdu, garnering
1,568 respondents. It found that 85% of
Chinese consumers have given up shark
fin soup within the past three years, and
two-thirds of these respondents cited
awareness campaigns as a reason for
ending their shark fin consumption.
Across the South China Sea, similar
sentiments have been echoed in
Indonesia. The report also found that

there has been an 80 percent decline

in prices paid to fishermen in Tanjung

Luar and Lombok since 2007, as well

as a 19 percent decline since 2002 in

Central Maluku, Southeastern

Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara.

However, the demand for shark

fins is not the only threat that sharks

face, though it is often positioned as

the main threat to sharks. According

to the FAO’s 2015 report “State of

the Global Market for Shark Products”

by Dent and Clarke, a global,

interdependent market for a range

of shark products exist across a

growing number of countries.

The shark meat trade is following an

increasing trend, with South America

and Europe among the world’s top

shark meat consumers.

More recently, there has been

a corporate movement by hotels,

Meat Cartilage

Sashimi

Medical Supply

Fin

Soup

Canned Food

Accessory

Teeth

Intenal Organs

Skin

Squalene Bag

Shoes

restaurants, and airlines in Asia

against the support of shark

products, specifically shark’s fin

soup. In 2018 alone, 89 Singapore

establishments from the hospitality

industry pledged to take shark’s fin

soup and other shark products off

the menu over the course of the

year. This was after the alarming

report published by Traffic and the

World Wide Fund of Nature (WWF)

in 2017, identifying Singapore as

the second largest re-exporter and

importer of shark fins worldwide

after Hong Kong.

With the overwhelming pessimism

centred around sharks and the shark

fin trade, it is promising to hear of

positive progress in the recent years.

If nations continue to work towards

sustainable and ethical trade, then we

may just start to see the horizon. AD