Saving Seafood

CITES adds broad protections for sharks, nixes proposals on eels and sea cucumbers

December 2, 2025 — The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has enacted sweeping new trade protections for sharks and rays while nixing proposals to do the same for sea cucumbers and eels at the 20th conference of parties (COP20) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

CITES is meeting from 24 November through 5 December and discussing over 100 proposals that could shift trade rules for species. Seven of those proposals concerned aquatic species, with three – eels, sharks, and sea cucumbers – drawing concern from the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Global Extinction Risk for Sharks and Rays Is High, United States may Provide Haven

December 9, 2024 — Overfishing of sharks and rays has depleted many populations, causing widespread erosion of ecological function and exceptionally high extinction risk. NOAA Fisheries coauthored a study in the journal Science that quantifies the extinction risk for the world’s 1,199 sharks and ray species over 50 years. They found that while sharks and rays are at high risk of extinction and biodiversity loss globally, this risk differs by habitat and region. There are some “bright spots” that could help species survive.

Sharks Are In Rough Shape Globally

We found that sharks and rays globally are in a worse conservation state than all other vertebrate groups, apart from amphibians. We also demonstrated the “fishing down” of shark and ray biodiversity and ecosystem function. This shows that the largest species declined first and most rapidly.

Most sharks and rays have slow population growth rates, which makes them highly vulnerable to overfishing and subsequently takes populations longer to rebuild. Around the world, sharks and rays are targeted for their fins, meat, gill plates, and liver oil. They are also caught incidentally—as bycatch—in other fisheries.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries agrees to make decision on tope shark protections by August 2025

December 9, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries has agreed to determine whether tope sharks deserve protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by August 2025 following a lawsuit from conservation legal groups Defend Them All and the Center for Biological Diversity.

“We’re optimistic that long-overdue protections for the tope shark are finally on the horizon,” Defend Them All attorney Lindsey Zehel said in a statement. “As compounding threats to the species continue to intensify, immediate action is necessary to halt the tope shark’s decline and preserve the integrity of our coastal ecosystems.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Are sharks a rising threat to fishermen?

July 1, 2024 — Over the years, scientists have studied sharks and their habits. The popularity of learning about them has grown significantly thanks to the annual broadcast of Shark Week on Discovery Channel, which airs July 7, 2024. Multiple sources have proven that the species has learned to associate boat engines with food. According to Live Science, sharks have been feasting on fish caught by humans in the Gulf of Mexico.

Instances of shark depredation in the region have substantially increased over the past decade, according to a shark scientist at Mississippi State University, Marcus Drymon. “Although difficult to demonstrate empirically, it does appear that there is a shift in behavior,” he told the publication.

Shark depredation occurs when a shark partially or entirely eats or damages hooked or netted fish before fishermen can remove them from the water. Researchers have investigated the reasons behind the increase in depredation, finding that more sharks, more anglers, and learned behavior are the leading factors.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Feds target U.S. companies caught in lucrative shark fin trade

August 3, 2022 — It’s one of the seafood industry’s most gruesome hunts.

Every year, the fins of as many as 73 million sharks are sliced from the backs of the majestic sea predators, their bleeding bodies sometimes dumped back into the ocean where they are left to suffocate or die of blood loss.

But while the barbaric practice is driven by China, where shark fin soup is a symbol of status for the rich and powerful, America’s seafood industry isn’t immune from the trade.

A spate of recent criminal indictments highlights how U.S. companies, taking advantage of a patchwork of federal and state laws, are supplying a market for fins that activists say is as reprehensible as the now-illegal trade in elephant ivory once was.

A complaint quietly filed last month in Miami federal court accused an exporter based in the Florida Keys, Elite Sky International, of falsely labeling some 5,666 pounds of China-bound shark fins as live Florida spiny lobsters. Another company, south Florida-based Aifa Seafood, is also under criminal investigation for similar violations, according to two people on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe. The company is managed by a Chinese-American woman who in 2016 pleaded guilty to shipping more than a half-ton of live Florida lobsters to her native China without a license.

The heightened scrutiny from law enforcement comes as Congress debates a federal ban on shark fins – making it illegal to import or export even foreign-caught fins. Every year, American wildlife inspectors seize thousands of shark fins while in transit to Asia for failing to declare the shipments.

An attorney for Elite wouldn’t comment nor did two representatives of Aifa when reached by phone.

Overfishing has led to a 71 percent decline in shark species since the 1970s. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, a Switzerland-based group that tracks wildlife populations, estimates that over a third of the world’s 500-plus shark species are threatened with extinction.

Contrary to industry complaints about excessive regulations, the U.S. is hardly a model of sustainable shark management, said Webber. She pointed to a recent finding by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that less than 23% of the 66 shark stocks in U.S. waters are safe from overfishing. The status of more than half of shark stocks isn’t even known.

The situation in Europe is even worse: a new report from Greenpeace, called “Hooked on Sharks,” revealed what it said is evidence of the deliberate targeting of juvenile blue sharks by fishing fleets from Spain and Portugal. The report found that the U.S. is the world’s fourth-largest shark exporter behind Spain, China and Portugal, with exports of 3.2 million kilograms of meat – but not fins – worth over $11 million in 2020.

Webber said rather than safeguard a small shark fishing industry, the U.S. should blaze the trail to protect the slow-growing, long-living fish.

“We can’t ask other countries to clean up their act if we’re not doing it well ourselves,” said Webber.

Read the full article at Press Herald

‘Why sharks matter’: Q&A with author and shark biologist David Shiffman

June 2, 2022 — In the introduction to his new book, conservation biologist David Shiffman quotes Senegalese forestry engineer and conservationist Baba Dioum: “In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught,” Dioum says.

If anything is clear from Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator, it’s that Shiffman loves sharks (especially sandbar sharks, the subject of his master’s thesis). Just as clearly, he’s motivated to pass that enthusiastic affection along to his readers, drawing on the latest research to show how diverse, unique, misunderstood and just plain cool sharks are. As a writer, he delights in drilling into the vast variety of quirky behaviors and roles his study subjects play in the world’s oceans.

In doing so, Shiffman, currently a faculty research associate at Arizona State University in the U.S., is eager to spur readers into action aimed at protecting sharks. Still, the book is far from a generic laundry list of the troubles that we’ve brought upon these animals. He doesn’t sugarcoat the reality that many shark species face the threat of extinction as a result of the influence we humans wield over them and their marine environment. But Shiffman also holds a mirror up to how scientists, NGOs and shark aficionados approach conservation, and sometimes the reflection is less than flattering.

To support shark conservation, Shiffman writes, scientists need to ask the right questions, acknowledge their own blind spots and embrace the interdisciplinarity of modern-day conservation biology. Advocacy groups should follow the science that’s pointing the way toward addressing the greatest threat to sharks today, unsustainable fishing, rather than the topics that will attract the most donations. And members of the public can educate themselves about how they can best make a difference.

Read the full story at Mongabay

Everything You Know about Shark Conservation Is Wrong

May 25, 2022 — More people than ever before are aware of the shark conservation crisis and want to help, which is great news. However, many well-intentioned people often don’t know the true causes of—and solutions to—this crisis, resulting in what’s at best wasted effort, and at worst harming what they’re trying to support. This conservation dilemma has inspired the last decade of my research and public science engagement. It also inspired my new book, Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator, which synthesizes hundreds of research papers and reports to inform readers of the true threats to sharks and how we can begin to solve them. Only by following the evidence and seeking data-driven, sustainable solutions to overfishing can we save these fascinating and important creatures.

Many people believe that the largest or only threat to sharks is “shark finning”: the practice of catching sharks, harvesting their fins and discarding the carcasses at sea. But this isn’t the case and hasn’t been for decades. I’ve seen some online petitions calling for bans on shark finning within Florida waters get tens of thousands of signatures. Apparently neither the petition creators nor the many signatories are aware that we already banned shark finning across the United States almost 30 years ago. While supporters of these petitions say that they’re “raising awareness,” it does not help anyone or anything to share incorrect information about what the problems are or how to solve them. Such feel-good solutions do nothing while diverting energy, media coverage and funding away from solutions that might really help.

Sustainable fisheries for sharks absolutely exist and are a vital part of livelihoods and food security in developing nations in the Global South. Sharks have relatively few offspring relatively infrequently, which complicates fisheries management, but the principle is the same as for any sustainable fishery: perform scientific research to learn how many sharks are present, and allow fishermen to take some of them (but not so many that the population collapses). In fact, 90 percent of surveyed shark scientists and 78 percent of surveyed shark conservation advocates prefer sustainable shark fisheries to total bans on fishing for sharks and trade in shark products!

If you’ve never heard about sustainable shark fisheries before but have heard that the best way to save sharks is by banning the U.S. fin trade, it’s probably because, for reasons that aren’t very clear, such bans get much, much more media attention than science-based sustainable fisheries management. Many people are also influenced by provocative and misleading (to put it mildly) “documentaries” like 2021’s Seaspiracy.

Read the full story at Scientific American

Coast Guard Searches for Poachers From Mexico Stealing Fish From U.S.

May 24, 2022 — At Hooked on Seafood, red snapper fetches a premium price. For fishermen, the tasty fruit of the Gulf of Mexico is like striking gold.

“Red snapper is the hottest commodity in the U.S., here in this border,” Hooked on Seafood owner Chris Johnson said.

But its high demand attracts schools of poachers from across the border.

“They’re taking our money out of our waters and selling it right back to us, and we’re paying to do it every day,” Johnson continued.

He’s a fishmonger and fisherman on Texas’ South Padre Island. He bellows a decades-long lament — illegal fishing operations from Mexico zip through the boundary waters poaching red snapper, shark, and shrimp by the thousands.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Southeastern Fisheries Association urges industry to support legal defense fund for Mark Harrison

May 9, 2022 — The following was released by the Southeastern Fisheries Association:

If you are involved in the U.S. shark fishery or if your fishery is impacted by the explosion of shark populations, please read this.  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has brought the export and selling of shark fins and most of the shark fishery to a virtual standstill by bringing serious but vague and unsubstantiated criminal charges against Mark L. Harrison, the founder of the Sustainable Shark Alliance and the nation’s primary shark fin exporter.  

If you have not read the first outreach on Mark’s behalf, please do so now at https://www.savingseafood.org/shark-defense-fund

Mark’s story:  

At the time of his arrest Mark was working directly with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to develop a means to trace shark fins and invoices under a study ordered by Governor Ron DeSantis to protect sharks. Mark also had worked directly with USFWS on a project to develop a methodology to be able to trace most all the nation’s shark fins that were under CITES regulations. Then they arrested him.  He has also worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) to help improve shark identification and with NMFS’ Office of Law Enforcement to protect shark species.  

Mark was instrumental in drafting the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act, introduced by Senator Marco Rubio and Congressmen Daniel Webster and Ted Lieu. This bill would promote the ending of shark finning abroad and promote shark conservation globally. His organization, the Sustainable Shark Alliance was the main supported of this bill, along with Wildlife Conservation Society, many commercial fishing associations, and the leading shark scientists.  

What you can do to help:  

Bob Jones, the former long-time head of Southeastern Fisheries Association, is requesting an investigation by the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General into USFWS law enforcement division to determine if it has targeted Mark. Bob makes the point in his letter that “Selective Law Enforcement, especially targeting one individual citizen, is anathema in our society. It must never be tolerated.”  

The letter was also sent to Senator Rubio’s office asking for his support in the investigation.  

We are asking that you please take the time to write a letter to the Department of the Interior Inspector General to echo Bob Jones’ request for an investigation. Please also send a copy to your Senators and Representative in Congress. Here is a link to help you contact your representatives:

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

Also ask them to oppose a national fin sales ban and support the Rubio/Webster/Lieu bill.  

Every letter helps!  

If you know Mark, you know that has always scrupulously adhered to the law and has worked with government agencies to better enforce our shark conservation laws. If you personally know Mark, please include any thoughts on his character.  Finally, if you are all able, please donate to Mark’s defense fund on the Saving Seafood link:

https://www.savingseafood.org/shark-defense-fund

For those who have already donated and helped Mark thank you very much! You helped him to retain a solid defense attorney. However, he still has legal bills stemming from this unjust and vindictive prosecution.  Mark can use your help to ensure his legal team can address the constitutional issues raised by his prosecution and ensure there is not only a future for the sustainability U.S. shark fishery but other fisheries as well.  

If we don’t stop this abuse here, you, in the fishing industry, are likely the next target. This is America. By helping Mark, you will help other Americans and yourself.

 

New Rule Focuses on Improving Survival of Hooked Oceanic Whitetip Sharks

April 29, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries, working with Hawaiʻi longline fishermen and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, has taken a big step in protecting threatened oceanic whitetip sharks.

A new regulation, effective May 31, 2022, prohibits the use of wire leaders in the Hawaiʻi deep-set longline fishery in favor of monofilament nylon leaders. This is a change that longline fishermen started on their own in November 2020.

Oceanic whitetip sharks were once one of the most abundant sharks in the ocean. Today, they are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Oceanic whitetips are top predators and play a critical role in the ecosystem by maintaining the populations of species below them in the food chain. In the hunt for a meal, oceanic whitetips are sometimes caught unintentionally (or hooked) in longline fisheries as bycatch—one of the greatest threats to their survival. The switch to nylon leaders is estimated to increase the survival rates of hooked whitetips by more than 30 percent!

“The Hawaiʻi fishing fleet sets the standard for longline tuna fishing, with high levels of observer coverage and strong regulations to limit the effects of the fishery on protected species,” said Michael Tosatto, Regional Administrator, NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office. “These new regulations to protect oceanic whitetip sharks continue this long legacy of responsible fishing in the Pacific Islands region. We hope fishing fleets around the world will adopt these practices.”

Read the full story from NOAA Fisheries