Understanding the impacts of anti-finning regulations on global shark mortality

Abstract

Increasing fishing pressure coupled with regulatory failures impede biological conservation of sharks worldwide, resulting in population declines for many species. Much of the demand for shark products has been fuelled by a burgeoning market for their fins, historically harvested by a wasteful practise called shark finning. National and international policy has aimed to eliminate this practise by mandating sharks be landed whole with fins naturally attached (FNA), or even by banning shark fishing altogether in so-called shark sanctuaries. This study maps the global regulatory landscape explicitly on anti-finning legislations across 280 exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and 4 Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) and examines trends in shark mortality related to such legislation. Results show that only 25% (n=70) of EEZs adopted a FNA ban category and only around 6% (n=19) of EEZs were protected as shark sanctuaries. Some of the largest shark fishing countries (e.g., Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia) had no or weak finning legislation. Total shark mortality as calculated in this study showed an increasing trend for coastal sharks and a decreasing trend for open-ocean sharks between 2010 and 2018, suggesting diverging trends in national and RFMO-regulated fisheries. In order to contextualize and cross-reference these analyses, 10 expert interviews were conducted. Interview results showed that coastal gillnet fisheries were considered to be a significant and unobserved source of shark bycatch; also, all the respondents reported either a decreasing trend (n=8) or stable trend (n=2) in shark finning over the last two decades, with increased utilisation of whole sharks and growing markets for shark meat and other products. Overall, these results highlight priority areas for strengthening existing measures and improving the effectiveness of current legislation in controlling shark finning and shark mortality at both RFMO and national levels.

Keywords: anti-finning, mortality, bycatch fate, sharks, RFMOs