Costa Rica takes the lead in the global effort to protect sharks
Written by Admin
Monday, 02 July 2007
(San José, Costa Rica. July 2, 2007)
The Government of Costa Rica has thrown down the gauntlet in the international debate on shark conservation. Releasing two statements last week simultaneously at the UN in New York and at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission in Mexico, Costa Rica stated its commitment to a global ban on the practice of shark “finning”, a process whereby millions of sharks have their fins sliced off and are then thrown back overboard.
At the UN meeting on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, Costa Rica made an unprecedented call for all sharks to be landed with their fins attached to their bodies, stressing not only the sheer waste of a much-valued and dwindling resource, but also the barbarity of finning. The statement was publicly supported by Venezuela and received tacit support from a number of other Latin American countries. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) also supported the Costa Rican statement.
Some countries have banned shark finning and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations have adopted recommendations against shark finning. However, in most cases, the removal of fins at sea is still permitted, provided that, when they are landed, the fins weigh below a certain proportion of the weight of the carcasses. In practice, say conservationists, there is a wide margin for cheating, depending on the weight ratios used. Furthermore, the system is impractical, considering that thousands of sharks can be landed simultaneously. Costa Rica is proposing that landing all sharks with their fins attached naturally is the only effective way to prevent shark finning.
The Shark Coalition, a group of NGOs from seven Latin American countries, applauded Costa Rica for its far-sightedness in taking this step. “Costa Rica was the first country in the world to require all sharks to be landed with the fins attached naturally” said Randall Arauz of PRETOMA, a member of the Shark Coalition. “El Salvador, Colombia and Panama have followed suit, demonstrating that this region takes shark conservation very seriously”, informed Arauz. Jorge Ramirez of the Mexican group Iemanya Oceanica, and also a member of the Shark Coalition, added “We hope the international community will realize that a global fins-attached policy is the only one that’s going to work”.
One hundred and ten shark species are currently considered to be under serious threat, and more species are being added to the list as they are assessed. Global shark populations have diminished by as much as 90% over the past 50 years. While there are various reasons for these declines, the ever-increasing demand for shark fin soup in east Asia, which imports thousands of tonnes of fins a year, is considered to be the most serious threat. A rapidly-growing middle class with disposable income in China has meant that, where unwanted catches of sharks used to be released back into the sea by large commercial fishing boats, the value of the fins is now so high that they are routinely taken for the international fin trade, while the low-value carcass is thrown back, to save space on board.
“The international debate on shark finning has focused on arguments about how much a shark’s fins weigh in relation to the rest of its body”, said Susie Watts of Humane Society International, another member of the Shark Coalition, “but meanwhile, sharks are still getting finned in huge quantities, and I’d be prepared to bet that most catches aren’t being weighed anyway. This call from Costa Rica, if heeded, will simplify the whole process. If the shark has its fins attached, it’s allowed. Simple as that”.
Costa Rica plans to take its case to the UN General Assembly later this year. “We hope that the UN will see the logic of this initiative”, says Arauz. “When we talk about the disappearance of sharks, we’re talking about the balance of global ocean ecosystems, about food security in poorer countries and about millions of dollars of lost revenue from the diving industry. A lot is riding on this”.
For more information:
Randall Arauz, PRETOMA. (Spanish and English)
Tel (506) 241 5227, FAX (506) 236 6017, email:
89% decline in hammerhead sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
80% decline in thresher sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
79% decline in great white sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
65% decline in tiger sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1986
60% decline in blue sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
99% decline in oceanic white tip sharks in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s
90% decline in oceanic silky sharks in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s
60% decline in relative abundance of all sharks in Costa Rican waters since 1991
In the Northwest Atlantic, all recorded shark species, with the exception of the mako shark, have declined by more than 50% since 1988.
The shark fin trade
Thousands of metric tonnes of shark fin are imported into Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and mainland China each year. Imports into Hong Kong and mainland China (the world’s largest importers) from 1988 – 2002 are as follows (in metric tonnes):
The combined 2002 imports of 13,401 metric tonnes represent many millions of sharks.
Shark Finning
According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) tens of millions of sharks are finned every year.
Shark Fin Soup
A delicacy for the aristocracy for thousands of years, shark fin soup was seen as elitist and frowned-upon by the Chinese Government during the Cultural Revolution. In the mid-1980s this attitude was relaxed and fin trade statistics for the period show a steep upward trend in imports. Demand has remained high ever since.
Serving shark fin soup is said to honour one’s guests and no New Year celebration, wedding or banquet is considered complete without it. Ironically, processed shark fins have no flavour at all: chicken or fish stock has to be added to flavour the dish.
Ecosystem effects
Predictive modelling has shown that the disappearance of sharks could have devastating consequences for ocean ecosystems. Because sharks are “apex” predators, positioned at the top of the food chain, the balance of species below them in the chain is highly likely to be severely disrupted, often to the detriment of commercially-valuable species. Tuna, for example, could disappear from areas where sharks have been fished out. Research carried out in the North-west Atlantic and published in March 2007 shows that in the coastal north-west Atlantic, the abundance of all eleven large shark species that prey on other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) has fallen over the past 35 years. The abundance of twelve of these prey species has subsequently increased, with the effect that populations of the cownose ray have been enhanced. This has resulted in increased predation of scallops of such magnitude that a century-old scallop fishery had to be closed.
