Consumption of shark fin has declined by more than one-third in Thailand since 2017, according to a new report from wildlife advocacy group WildAid. But with more than half of urban Thai citizens reporting they still plan to eat shark in the future, demand remains high.

“Thais are becoming more aware of the importance of sharks to the ocean,” Petch Manopawitr, a conservation scientist and Thailand program adviser at WildAid, said in a statement. “[However], not only does the demand for shark fin persist, but sharks are becoming more commonly used in pet food and snacks as well.”

The report, based on interviews with 1,007 urban-dwelling members of the Thai public, looks at changes in shark-fin consumption patterns in Thailand between 2017 and 2023. The surveys also gauged people’s opinions of sharks and products derived from them.

According to the findings, the number of city-based shark-fin consumers in Thailand has dropped from around 6.6 million to roughly 5.3 million citizens over the past 7 years, reflecting a 34% decrease in the number of servings of shark fin soup, a status symbol dish, consumed per year. Most people who eat shark do so at social gatherings, such as family gatherings and weddings, the study found.

As the ocean’s top predators, sharks play a vital role in maintaining balance within the food chain. Yet despite their crucial importance, shark numbers have been decimated by overfishing, bycatch and consumer demand for their fins. As a result, more than one-third of all shark and ray species are at risk of extinction.

Some 88% of interviewees, including shark consumers, told researchers they understand how important sharks are to marine ecosystems. But despite this heightened consumer awareness, in part due to awareness campaigns led by groups such as WildAid, the study found that one in three urban citizens reported they would try shark meat in the future.

In Bangkok’s Chinatown district, restaurant owners told the researchers alternatives to shark-fin soup, such as mantis shrimp and lobster, are gaining popularity. However, they noted that tourists from China, Malaysia and Singapore are steadfast shark buyers. 

“Most restaurant owners seem to be aware that shark fins are likely to be from a gray market and are careful when talking about their suppliers,” the report says. “None of the owners were very confident about the origin of the shark fin they sell, but many assume the fins are coming from Hong Kong and Spain.”

Thailand claims to have no targeted shark fisheries; however, shark finning, whereby live sharks have their fins cut off at sea, isn’t banned by law. The country is also a leading exporter of shark products, specializing in low-quality, small-sized shark fins, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

In recent years, many countries have introduced regulations to eliminate shark finning. As a result, the practice is typically less prevalent than it once was in historical shark-finning hotspots, including Thailand. Now, sharks are mostly landed whole as bycatch, incidentally caught by vessels fishing for other species, such as tuna.

Although the decline in shark finning is generally good news, experts have warned that landing whole sharks has created additional markets for shark meat, cartilage and other body parts, which risks incentivizing fishers to keep catching sharks. Fishery data suggest that such markets might be sustaining shark fisheries. A recent study, for instance, estimated that despite efforts to phase out shark finning, global fishing mortality increased from 76 million sharks in 2012 to between 79 million and 80 million between 2017 and 2019.

“WildAid has observed an emerging trend in Thailand for pet snacks advertised as ‘made from sharks.’ WildAid’s initial online market investigation in January 2024 found as many as 100 online vendors selling these products to supply the market for Thailand’s booming pet industry,” the report says.

The new report follows a 2023 investigation that revealed the presence of threatened shark species in products commonly sold in Thailand’s markets. Experts at the time told Mongabay the ubiquity of species at risk of extinction in commonplace items means many consumers are unwittingly complicit in the demise of iconic, keystone species.

Great hammerheads (Sphyrna mokarran), scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) and sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) were just some of the threatened species identified in Thai products during the 2023 study.

Given the “substantial portion of consumers demonstrating a willingness to forgo shark consumption,” the report calls on policymakers in Thailand to introduce serious measures to reduce shark bycatch, to expand marine protected areas into priority shark habitats, and to improve the traceability of shark trade supply chains.

Carolyn Cowan is a staff writer for Mongabay. Follow her on 𝕏, @CarolynCowan11.

Banner image: A shark in mangrove shallows. Image by Anita Kainrath/Ocean Image Bank.

Citations:

Dulvy, N. K., Pacoureau, N., Rigby, C. L., Pollom, R. A., Jabado, R. W., Ebert, D. A., … Simpfendorfer, C. A. (2021). Overfishing drives over one-third of all sharks and rays toward a global extinction crisis. Current Biology, 31(21), 4773-4787. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.062

Worm, B., Orofino, S., Burns, E. S., D’Costa, N. G., Manir Feitosa, L., Palomares, M. L., … Bradley, D. (2024). Global shark fishing mortality still rising despite widespread regulatory change. Science, 383(6679), 225-230. doi:10.1126/science.adf8984

See related story:

Undercover in a shark fin trafficking ring: Interview with wildlife crime fighter Andrea Crosta

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