Hong Kong has added two shark families – the requiem shark and the hammerhead shark – to its list of endangered animals, whose trade in the city will be tightly controlled.
Marine experts say most of the shark fins eaten in the city are blue sharks, which are part of the requiem family.
Stan Shea, marine programme director for the Bloom Association, said: “Before the two families were covered, around 20 per cent of the shark fins imported to Hong Kong were under control. But now with the two families [on the endangered list], up to 90 per cent would come under control.”
Shea added that the government would need to train officers to identify fins from protected species.
Although people in Hong Kong are eating less shark fin than they did before, the city is still a key market for this food.
Marine biologists estimate that more than 100 million sharks are killed each year, putting these predators at risk of extinction. Those killed for their fins have the body part cut off from their bodies before being thrown back into the ocean, where they die slowly.
