Fin trade still main driver for sharks' decline
WWF agrees with Choo-hoo Giam that overall fishing practices are to blame for the decline of sharks worldwide ('Sharks threatened by fishing in general, not just fin harvest', October 14).
However, the main economic driver for this decline is, without a doubt, the shark fin trade. Although shark fins account for 7 per cent by volume, they have an estimated minimum global value between US$400 million and US$550 million per year, or 40 per cent of the total value of shark products. It is not difficult to see that shark fin demand is driving sharks to extinction because of its high returns and low processing costs.
While it may be true that many fishers in developing countries keep the meat for sustenance, trade and fisheries figures show that many boats do not have the capacity to store the meat and keep only the most profitable part of sharks, their fins.
About 17 per cent of shark and ray species are listed in the critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, and another 47 per cent are listed as data deficient, meaning there is not enough information to estimate the status of the populations.
The number of shark species going into the IUCN list increases significantly every year. There are many shark species that are not on this list but there are practical difficulties in telling the species apart by their dried fins, hence the need to put a blanket ban on the trade as many of the fins come from animals already in danger.
Just last week the US submitted a proposal to list six threatened shark species under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, of which Dr Giam is a member. The European Union also submitted proposals for the listing of porbeagle and spiny dogfish.
