Training sessions to help enforcement officials to curb illegal shark trade
OVERFISHING of sharks globally has led to some species being listed as threatened and others labelled extinct on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Fisheries worldwide supply shark fins to Asian markets and shark meat to markets in South America, Southeast Asia and Europe.
Recognising the challenges faced by law enforcement officials, Wildoceans through its “Shark & Ray Protection Project”, the Department of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (Deff) and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, have put together a series of training sessions that will assist customs and law enforcement officials across South Africa.
“It’s not just an issue in South Africa. Across the world, customs and law enforcement agencies on the front line in combating wildlife trafficking are under-staffed and under-equipped,” said Markus Burgener, senior fisheries expert at Traffic.
More than 40 shark and ray species have been listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
Listing in Appendix II requires permits to be issued confirming that the shipments of shark products were
obtained legally and sustainably.
However, Wildoceans said, shark fins are difficult to identify at species level and illegal traders use this to their advantage by falsely declaring shipments of fins as being from nonCites listed species.
“The training and provision of shark identification tools will support law enforcement officials to make better informed and more confident compliance decisions to curb the illegal shark trade,” Burgener said.
The training sessions will highlight the Shark ID Toolkit developed for front-line law enforcement officials.
The toolkit includes pocketbooks for quick and easy identification of shark fins, posters, comprehensive identification guides, and 3D-printed and painted replica fins of Cites-listed shark species developed by TRAFFIC.
Another component covered is the shark meat trade from South Africa to Australia, sourced from several demersal shark species whose population status is of concern.
The identification of shark trunks from these species will be addressed using a revised Shark Trunk Guide.