Indo‐Pacific origins of silky shark fins in major shark fin markets highlights supply chains and management bodies key for conservation

The silky shark is the second most common shark in Southeast Asia's dried fin markets and is managed in the Atlantic Ocean by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) and by three Indo‐Pacific regional fisheries management organizations (RMFOs). The Internation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation letters Vol. 14; no. 3
Main Authors: Cardeñosa, Diego, Fields, Andrew T., Babcock, Elizabeth, Shea, Stanley K. H., Feldheim, Kevin A., Kraft, Derek W., Hutchinson, Melanie, Herrera, Maria A., Caballero, Susana, Chapman, Demian D.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.05.2021
Wiley
Subjects:
Atlantic Ocean
Carcharhinus falciformis
China
compliance
Conservation
exports
Fins
Fish conservation
Fisheries
Fisheries management
Fishery management
genetic tracking
genetic variation
Guangzhou
Haplotypes
Hong Kong
ICCAT
international shark trade
International trade
markets
Mitochondrial DNA
Organizations
Population
Regions
Retention
RFMO
Sharks
South East Asia
Supply chains
Wildlife conservation
wildlife forensics
Hong Kong China
Papua New Guinea
Indian Ocean
Indo-Pacific region
China
Taiwan
South East Asia
Atlantic Ocean
ISSN:1755-263X, 1755-263X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The silky shark is the second most common shark in Southeast Asia's dried fin markets and is managed in the Atlantic Ocean by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) and by three Indo‐Pacific regional fisheries management organizations (RMFOs). The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna reports ∼ 7% of global silky landings but there is a moratorium on the export of their fins. During a 4‐year period (2014–2017) we used genetic differentiation observed between Atlantic and Indo‐Pacific silky sharks to assess the contribution of Atlantic individuals to fins randomly obtained in the two largest shark fin markets in the world, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China (N = 604). We did not detect any Atlantic fins in either market despite robust sampling effort with an estimated Indo‐Pacific contribution of 99.8% to these markets. These findings indicate that supply chains for silky shark fins in Hong Kong and Guangzhou primarily originate in the Indo‐Pacific and are mainly under the purview of three Regional Fisheries Management Organizations. Our results are consistent with the possibility that ICCAT parties have achieved high compliance with the ban on silky sharks. We suggest research and monitoring improvements that could enhance our understanding of the global trade of silky sharks and enable better fisheries management.
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ISSN:1755-263X
1755-263X
DOI:10.1111/conl.12780