Hong Kong’s controversial shark fin trade could face its biggest shock in years if conservationists rally to push for tougher regulations at an international wildlife conference in Panama.
The city is one of the world’s largest markets for shark fin, considered a delicacy by many Chinese communities and often served as a soup at expensive banquets.
While domestic consumption has declined after years of campaigning by activists, Hong Kong remains a key trading hub for shark fin – both legal and illegal – en route to mainland China and Southeast Asia.
“Last year, over 90 percent of Hong Kong’s shark fin imports were re-exported, and one important market is mainland China,” said Loby Hau, deputy ocean sustainability manager at WWF-Hong Kong.
The city regulates the shark fin trade through an international endangered species treaty, which means certain types of fins require export permits certifying that they have been caught sustainably.
The latest meeting of the 184-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which started in Panama on Monday, could add protections for two large families of sharks.
Researchers say the proposals, if passed, will protect a large number of shark species and put further pressure on Hong Kong law enforcement already battling a surge in illegal shark finning.
Hong Kong seized 27.5 tons of regulated shark fins in 2021 and 29.5 tons the year before, a government spokesman told AFP. In 2019 it was just 6.5 tons.
– Hard Enforcement –
Marine biologists estimate that more than 100 million sharks are killed each year, putting vital apex predators at risk of extinction and pushing ocean ecosystems to the brink of collapse.
Their fins are usually cut off their bodies and the animals thrown back into the sea, where they suffer a slow death.
There are signs that Hong Kong consumers have become more aware.
A 2009 survey found that 73 percent of respondents had eaten shark fin the previous year, but a decade later that number dropped to 33 percent.
Government, major caterers and image-conscious brands have also sought to reinforce their eco-conscious credentials by removing shark fin from banquet menus.
But on Hong Kong’s Dried Seafood Street, where shops display shark fins like trophies behind glass, business remains stable.
“Nowadays, fewer people want to buy shark fins, but we have our regular customers, mostly older people,” said a shopkeeper who asked not to be named, adding that her customers spend an average of HKD2,500 (US$320) per catty (a measurement which is approx 605 grams).
A nearby restaurant offered a selection of shark fin soups, costing a maximum of HK$980 per bowl.
According to Stan Shea, director of marine program at BLOOM Association Hong Kong, it’s hard to say to what extent import-export companies and retailers are complying with the regulations.
“As a normal citizen, all you can ask the shopkeeper is, ‘Are your fins legal?'” he told AFP. “(Sellers) are not required to label their goods and very few do.”
Once a piece of shark fin has been skinned and processed, DNA analysis Shea and other researchers performed in 2014 is the only reliable way to check if it belongs to an endangered species.
More than 10 percent came from sharks, which were regulated by CITES at the time.
A more recent 2020-2021 study by Shark Guardian in Taiwan found that half of shark fin traders were selling protected species.
– Wide Proposal –
Blue sharks — which industry officials claim have stable populations — are most commonly found among fin traders.
But that could change if a CITES proposal to regulate all species of dead sharks, backed by more than 40 countries, is successful.
“If the proposal goes through, and assuming the market composition hasn’t changed since 2014, then 90 percent of the shark fins in the market must be export-licensed,” Shea said.
In the last five years, Hong Kong has prosecuted five people for importing endangered shark fins without a license – an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a HK$10 million fine.
The government last year extended the organized crime law to include wildlife smuggling, but no such prosecution has yet taken place.
Hau from WWF-Hong Kong called on authorities to conduct more inspections and impose mandatory records on shark fin sellers.
“If this Panama conference adds more species to (CITES regulations), the government should pay close attention,” he told AFP.
“The smuggling of wildlife has become very systematic and organized, so investigation needs to be dialed in.”
