Urgent Situation for Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras - According to a New Report

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says in a new report that if we want to save sharks, rays and chimaeras in our oceans, we need to tackle overfishing and by-catch.

The IUCN Shark Specialist Group published its first status report 20 years ago. The state of knowledge has greatly improved, but the threat to sharks and rays remains. This year’s report has gathered knowledge from 353 experts from 115 countries, including researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

– In Sweden, most fisheries target shrimp and herring, while sharks and rays are usually caught as by-catch in trawl fisheries. ‘Bans and low demand also mean that we see minimal landings of these species,’ says Christopher Griffiths from SLU and one of the researchers behind the report.  

While fishing for shark fins used to be the culprit, the shark meat fishery has now grown in size. Global demand for shark meat has almost doubled and shark and ray meat is now valued at 1.7 times the global fin trade.

The report also states that 32% of the world’s sharks, rays and anglerfish are threatened (red-listed as ‘vulnerable’, ‘critically endangered’ or ‘endangered’). And the main threat to them is unmanageable overfishing and by- catches.

There are over 30 species of sharks and rays in Swedish waters. Ten of them are listed as endangered. From 13 June 2023, limited recreational fishing for spiny dogfish is allowed, other species such as lesser spotted dogfish, common skate and thornback ray are protected and must be released immediately if caught.

The report identifies five countries as the worst shark-catching nations: Indonesia, Spain, India, Mexico and the United States.

Spain, Italy and Portugal are also among the world’s largest traders of shark meat, with the EU accounting for around 22% of the global meat trade.