Asian demand behind falling shark populations

Before and after. How illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the shark fin is affecting Australian and international waters.

Illegal fishing still a problem
Wednesday, 08 April 2009, Australian Institute of Marine Science

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which is devastating delicate ecosystems and fish breeding grounds in waters to Australia’s north, can no longer be managed effectively by individual nations and now requires an urgent regional solution if food security into the future is to be maintained, according to a new scientific report.

To date, these IUU fishers have focused mostly on high-value sharks mainly for the fin trade, to the extent that the abundance of some shark species has dropped precipitously.

He said that IUU fishing, which has devastated fish resources and their associated ecosystems throughout Southeast Asian waters, was driven by deep economic and societal forces. For example, the Asian economic crisis in the late 1990s drove a large number of people out of cities and into illegal fishing.

It was not enough to maintain just a national response as the problem crossed national maritime zones, he said, and posed one of the biggest threats known to marine ecosystems throughout the region.

"These IUU fishers are mining protein," Dr Meekan said. "There is no regard to sustainability or factoring in fish breeding or ecosystem protection."

Asian demand behind falling shark populations: report
November 20, 2008, AFP

Asian demand for shark fin soup is pushing the animal's population in the wild to new lows, the Australian government and a wildlife trade monitoring group said in a report released on Wednesday.

The report found that while more than one-fifth of shark species were already threatened with extinction, a lack of government control on overfishing and the problem of illegal fishing were further depleting the animal's numbers.

"The main reason for most of the shark catches around the world is the shark fin feeding into the Asian market," Sant said. "We are not against the trade in shark fin, but what we are against is the over exploitation of shark." Sant said the report's case study on Australia noted "enormous amounts of illegal vessels fishing in Australian waters and huge amounts of shark fin being taken".