An ancient species that has navigated our oceans since before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth is now threatened with extinction—for a soup among other reasons. TRAFFIC has employed technology and creativity to curb illegal shark fin trade.

Steven Spielberg’s seminal summer blockbuster of 1975, Jaws, followed the hunt for a great white shark that developed a taste for swimmers in a beach town. The movie set in motion a decades-long trend of depicting sharks as bloodthirsty monsters. In a 2022 interview, Spielberg said he regretted the impact that his movie had had on shark populations. But hunting of sharks has, unfortunately, always been a reality, even before the fish became a staple movie villain.

Sharks are among the most threatened species on the planet today. Populations have been steadily declining across oceans, and the primary reason is not retaliatory attacks. Sharks are hunted to cater to a market propelled by the demand for an expensive derivative: shark fin. It is a trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Evolved over 400 million years ago, before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, Elasmobranchs or Elasmobranchii (a subclass of cartilaginous fish that includes sharks, rays and skates) are among the oldest and most diverse groups in aquatic ecosystems. Almost 500 species of sharks exist; of these, nearly 100 have been included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices. This means that international trade in CITES-listed sharks is regulated through national and international cooperation. India is a member country of CITES and is one of the world’s largest shark fishing nations. According to FAO statistics, India’s contribution to the annual average global catch of sharks during 2000-2009 was 9%.

In 2015, a blanket ban on shark fin trade was declared in India under the Export-Import policy of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992. Two years before this ban, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had banned shark finning in the sea under its ‘Fins Naturally Attached’ policy. This meant that shark fins could not be separated from the carcass on board a vessel at sea. As per the policy, any possession of shark fins that were not naturally attached to the body of a shark would amount to “hunting” of a Schedule-I species of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. However, of the 160 species of sharks and 68 species of rays found in India, only 18 are listed under Schedule I. So, why does the policy apply to all shark fins? To understand this, we must first look at why shark populations are declining.


Identifying fins of the great hammerhead shark with TRAFFIC’s guidebook

The shark products in demand include meat for local consumption, skin for leather, liver oil for squalene, cartilage for medicines and jaws and teeth for jewellery. But the derivative with the highest demand is shark fin. Between 2010 and 2022, a total of 17 seizures of shark derivatives were reported in India. Of this, 82% were fins—that’s over 15,000 kg of shark fin! It is hard to comprehend this number without understanding the demand drivers. Among them is shark fin soup, a delicacy in many Asian cultures.
 

Before the ‘Fins Naturally Attached’ policy, a huge number of sharks were de-finned on vessels and left in the sea to die a painful death. The policy prohibits this practice and also reduces the number of sharks caught since the whole carcass—and not just the fin—must be transported to the shore, thus taking up more space on the sea vessel.

Another reason for the policy is that it is challenging to identify the shark species from just the fin. Dr Merwyn Fernandes, Associate Director of TRAFFIC’s India office, says, “Law enforcement agencies often do not have reference photos and must identify fins against over 500 potential shark and ray species to monitor trade. Identifying the fins of sharks and rays quickly and reliably is critical to ensuring the effective implementation of CITES and national regulations.”

To help law enforcement officials such as Customs and Coast Guards identify dried and unprocessed fins, TRAFFIC has created 3D-printed and painted replicas of fins. Last year, TRAFFIC’s India office shared these replicas with enforcement agencies in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. TRAFFIC is a leading NGO working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. It came to India in 1991 and operates here as a division of WWF-India.

TRAFFIC has also published a 3D Shark Fin Identification Guidebook on 11 commercially traded shark and ray species that are listed in Appendix II of CITES. This guidebook can be used independently or with the 3D fin replicas by enforcement agencies in India’s coastal regions, airports and seaports. It includes images of fins, information on species distribution, IUCN status and key features. Each page also has a QR code that leads one to further information for each fin on the TRAFFIC website.

Overfishing and low biological productivity have put many shark species at the risk of extinction. If sharks disappear, our ocean ecosystems will collapse. These initiatives are a small step towards saving sharks by helping India fulfil its commitment to sustainable, regulated trade for CITES-listed species.