Why is the shark-fin trade buoyant while Covid-19 sinks the global economy?

Record-breaking seizures of smuggled fins show that a growing appetite from Asia is taking a toll on underwater ecosystems and fishing communities

In Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of shark products, many who have lost work amid the pandemic have been forced back into the industry

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Some studies suggest that 73 million sharks are finned each year, but other estimates put the number closer to 100 million. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 9:00am, 6 Sep 2020Updated: 12:49pm, 6 Sep 2020

With economic activity around the world taking a hammering from Covid-19, conservationists had hoped for a respite in the global shark-fishing industry. But a spate of record-breaking confiscations and expanding markets in Asia show there is still an appetite for shark fins – one that is taking a toll on underwater ecosystems and fishing communities in the region.

In April, the Hong Kong authorities seized 13 tonnes ofsmuggled shark fins, mostly from endangered species. A few days later, they discovered another 13 tonnes – more than doubling the 12 tonnes seized in all of last year, and baffling government officials and activists who expected border closures to make the trade less feasible.

Shark fins are mostly used for shark’s fin soup, a dish that symbolises wealth and status in Chinese culture. Demand for the dish has soared in recent decades with the rise of China’s newly affluent middle class, and while a conservation effort on the mainland has seen consumption drop by 80 per cent since 2011, this has been offset by expanding and emerging markets in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Thailand.

Consumption in the Southeast Asian kingdom is widespread, and it has the potential to become a major market: a 2017 survey found that 57 per cent of urban Thais had already consumed shark fin, while 61 per cent planned to consume it in the future.

Studies by environmental organisation WildAid suggest that 73 million sharks are finned each year, but other estimates put the number closer to 100 million – a sign of global demand being catered to by countries such as Indonesia, where shark fishing is legal.

Hong Kong customs displays about 13 tonnes of dried shark fins seized in smuggling cases this year. Photo: SCMP / Nora Tam

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