State of Global Market for Shark Products
Working Through Challenges
Gain a better understanding of the challenges shark researchers and data scientists face when studying the shark fin and meat trade.
LIMITED DATA
AVAILABLE
about the market for
shark-derived products
Although it only covers a proportion of what is actually caught and traded, available data accounts mostly for the two most-traded products: shark meat and shark fins.
Other products that many countries also trade in—with even less available data— include:
Imprecise
reporting
for example when shark fins are reported as shark meat
Frozen fins and frozen shark meat are sometimes combined under a single commodity code in trade databases, as is the case in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2014 and for many years in mainland China.
Complications with
data
recording
A single shark recorded in a landings database may be double counted in the trade database as an import and a re-import (or an export and re-export).
Lack of
Species id
Overall, the species of shark is rarely identified in trade records.
Inability
to account
for domestic consumption
It is often not possible to simply subtract traded exports from imports because shark landings or local processing may also contribute to domestic supply.
Lack of
precise labeling
with many countries lacking distinct codes for unprocessed and processed shark fins
Frozen fins can weigh up to four times more than dried fins making it challenging to determine exactly how much of the reported quantities consists of shark fin and how much is simply water content.
Inconsistent custom codes
between countries
Customs codes can be inconsistent from one country to the next, which makes a global analysis difficult.