More than half of the oxygen we breathe comes from the Ocean. The degradation of fish populations, including sharks, harms the health of marine ecosystems, and we know the Ocean’s role as one of the planet’s main carbon sinks.

Protecting biodiversity and resilient ecosystems, as well as the sustainability of our blue economy and the fishing sector, are key priorities of the EU Green Deal. Sharks are a critical element and a determining factor in ocean tourism, fishing, and food security.

All inhabitants of the planet depend on healthy, functional ecosystems. The decimation of sharks is no longer just a fishing issue but a vital part of efforts to protect biodiversity in the oceans, and therefore a concern for everyone.

The demand for shark fins puts immense fishing pressure on shark populations worldwide. This situation directly undermines all conservation efforts.

• Over 100 million sharks are killed each year, primarily for their fins.
• Shark populations in the high seas have decreased by more than 70% over the past 50 years.
• 50% of shark species are threatened or nearly threatened with extinction.
  And, in fact, two-thirds of the species involved in the global shark fin trade are at risk of extinction.

Finding so many endangered species in the global shark fin trade is a clear alarm signal, indicating that international trade is one of the main drivers of unsustainable fishing. It is also a glaring sign that fisheries authorities have failed to protect sharks.

While EU member states may not be the primary consumers of shark fins, they are part of the problem as suppliers of fins to Asia. Currently, Spain, Portugal, and France are among the top 15 shark fishing countries in the world. This situation is incompatible with the EU’s commitments to biodiversity and ocean protection.

Any country that supports and participates in the shark fin trade contributes to the overexploitation of sharks.

The EU is a major player in the global shark fin trade, capturing sharks from all regions of the world and supplying markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, where it is estimated that over 50% of the global shark fin trade is sold.

Only about 20% of the 100,000 tons of sharks fished annually by the EU are caught in European waters.

Promoting shark meat as a source of healthy protein is misleading the public. It is well known that long-lived apex predators like sharks accumulate high levels of toxins such as PCBs, arsenic, lead, and DDT.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) specifically advise against consumption of long-lived predatory fish such as sharks, swordfish, and tuna for women of childbearing age, pregnant women, and children.

The main beneficiaries of EU shark fishing operations are a relatively small group of fishing operators, as well as supply chain actors associated with them, based within the EU.

It is clear that the economy of the fishing sector cannot be considered in isolation. The gains of a few have a significant negative impact on other sectors of the economy, such as the growing ecotourism market, subsistence coastal fishing, and human health.
Choosing long-term sustainable and regenerative practices in the ocean will strengthen climate resilience, potentially saving billions of dollars in future damages and mitigation costs.

On the other hand, non-European countries see their resources depleted by European shark fishing fleets, which has negative repercussions on their economy and contributes to the decline of viable resources for coastal communities that rely on small-scale subsistence fishing.

The high market value of shark fins is the main reason sharks are fished at unsustainable rates, and why the cruel practice of “finning” (cutting off shark fins while they are still alive and discarding the rest of the body at sea) continues, whether legal or not. The real challenge is figuring out how to effectively tackle this issue.

In European territories, the practice of “finning” has fortunately been banned since 2013, requiring fishermen to land sharks whole at port. This practice is also illegal in many countries, but it remains an ineffective law because it is very difficult to enforce.

Although the EU has conservation obligations under CITES and the CMS, endangered or protected shark species continue to enter the market due to inadequate legislation. A legal market for shark fins creates a loophole for illegal fins, as the origin and species are hard to trace. Once shark fins are detached from the body, they can only be identified through complex and expensive DNA testing. CITES records show that shark fishing threatens many species. However, the reality is that controlling CITES-listed species in all ports will be a long process and can only be effective when every landing port has qualified inspectors.

Several decades of regulatory attempts by various fisheries bodies have yielded no results, and shark populations continue to drastically decline. This is the ultimate proof that current laws are insufficient and that shark management, especially the fin trade, can no longer be solely within the domain of fisheries management. Sharks and rays must be managed as highly endangered wildlife species. Fins should be treated not as a fishery product but as a commodity fueling a global market, criminal activities, dangerous worker practices, and even slavery at sea.

Regulations prohibiting shark finning and requiring ships to “land sharks whole” are obviously necessary policies, but they are ineffective due to their practically unenforceable nature. To enforce these regulations, offenders must be caught in the act of fin removal. However, once the fins are detached from the shark’s body, it is impossible to prove fin removal or determine if the shark was targeted or a legal bycatch, even if it was dead or alive when it was kept.

On the other hand, the unintended and unintentional consequence of these policies has been the creation of a shark meat market. The “naturally-attached fin” regulation should have worked, but the motivation to sell the fins has completely neutralized its effectiveness, as industries pivoted to landing whole sharks and created a meat market to make the practice economically viable. This rule must therefore be reinforced with a ban on the shark fin trade to eliminate the incentive to capture sharks for their fins.