{"id":25967,"date":"2017-04-03T11:42:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T09:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/the-new-gastronomes\/who-is-eating-all-the-sharks-these-scary-predators-are-disappearing-from-our-oceans-but-no-one-seems-to-be-hungry-for-them\/"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:58:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T11:58:29","slug":"who-is-eating-all-the-sharks-these-scary-predators-are-disappearing-from-our-oceans-but-no-one-seems-to-be-hungry-for-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/who-is-eating-all-the-sharks-these-scary-predators-are-disappearing-from-our-oceans-but-no-one-seems-to-be-hungry-for-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is eating all the sharks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malta, Mediterranean sea, fish market.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does shark meat taste like? I am not sure, I don\u2019t think I have ever tried it. I don\u2019t remember finding it in menus or at the supermarket. If any of us have tried it, I am sure we can still remember and even count the times that we did. \u00a0But what if we were served \u00a0it at a restaurant without knowing, or if we unintentionally bought it at the regular fish market where we like to go. According to Shark Alliance, Italy is the largest European consumer of shark meat\u00a0and the fourth largest importer after Spain, Korea and Hong Kong. Many shark\u00a0species are in danger of extinction and the black market for illegal shark meat and fins is growing steadily. Other species are not endangered nor illegal to commercialize so, if this is the case, how come we never see them around? Could we have eaten all the sharks to extinction without even realizing it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Shark meat\u00a0has\u00a0been an ingredient in \u00a0traditional cuisines all around the world.\u00a0The best example is the Chinese shark fin soup, a dish that has slowly become popular in the western countries. It used to be a very expensive and exclusive meal, available to the richer people. Once China became a global economic power everybody could afford to buy shark fin soup. Trading shark fins is now the second biggest trade market in the world after\u00a0the drugs trade. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a consequence to these trades 90% of the blue sharks in the Mediterranean have been killed.<\/span> 90% is a huge number and even if there is still 10% left, it is not enough. That is why we are so passionate about studying and tracking fish arrivals at the fish markets\u201d says Pamela Mason, a retired teacher and a member of Sharklab-Malta and\u00a0fish4tomorrow.\u00a0\u201cThose sharks left are sometimes not able to find a mate and once they become extinct they are gone forever\u201c.<\/span><\/p>\n

We met Pamela with her husband David, who is a biochemist, lecturer, and also a\u00a0member of Sharklab-Malta\u00a0and\u00a0fish4tomorrow,\u00a0during our\u00a0study trip in\u00a0Malta.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEating sharks is fine, as long as there are plenty in the sea. It is not the best meat for a daily consumption because of the mercury traces found in all the larger game fish, such as tuna and swordfish. Many researchers are still studying the mercury traces found in larger fish; in fact\u00a0in some animals they are very high and in others are not present. This could be\u00a0due to different polluted areas or to the physiology of the fish itself.\u00a0Either way, some species in the Mediterranean have\u00a0already gone extinct. We haven\u2019t seen some of them in 10 years now, so it is not possible that no one is eating them\u201d Pamela continues her explanation while guiding us through the fish market.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask the people they won\u2019t tell you that they eat sharks. In fact shark\u00a0steaks are very similar to the swordfish ones and when they are sold one next to the other it is not easy to spot the difference\u201d Pamela and David tell us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They reported the sales of mako, a very endangered species locally, in the markets to the authorities several times\u00a0but no one seems to worry about it. They tell us that mako was banned 3 years ago all over Europe, and it is not allowed to buy, catch, sell, import,\u00a0or export it. Fortunately, there are still plenty of this species \u00a0in the Australian and Scandinavian seas. Even though the law is very clear and states that mako cannot be imported in any European country, we still find it at\u00a0the market. \u00a0At this point, how can you even tell where it was\u00a0caught?<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking around, we realize that almost every vendor at the market is selling shark. The small sharks are sold without the skin so that they cannot be recognized as such, while the steaks are sold as amberjack, mazzola, swordfish or white fish.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"eating<\/p>\n

Sword fish on the left, shark on the right<\/em><\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t people buy the same piece of fish\u00a0if they knew it came from a shark? In fact, not all sharks are endangered or illegal to fish and commercialize, yet when their meat is sold it is still not advertised accurately. Taboos or habits perhaps, but here no one seems to be hungry for\u00a0shark meat.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Is this happening anywhere else? How is Italy the biggest consumer in Europe when you rarely find it on menus? What is the general consumption of shark meat in Europe and in the rest of the world?<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the The Pew Charitable Trusts Fact Sheet, in 2004 Europe imported more than 26,000 tonnes of shark meat, which is nearly 30% of the world\u2019s shark imports. The same year, Europe also exported more than 40,000 tonnes of shark meat, fins and other products, or just under 40% of world shark exports.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same document declares Italy responsible for over 10% of global shark product imports, ranking third in the world for the importation of frozen, chilled and fresh shark meat and fillets of dogfish, porbeagle, smoothhounds, catsharks and makos. \u00a0The most important fishing nations in the world are European. The most relevant ones are Spain, France, Portugal and the UK and almost half of the shark that they catch comes from outside European waters. Italy, however, is indicated as the european leader in catching sharks in the Mediterranean. <\/span><\/p>\n

The main reasons sharks are caught are their fins, their meat, the liver oil, their cartilage, and their skin. With globalization, food traditions are travelling non-stop around the world, becoming fashionable and leading to increased demand in places where something would have never been eaten before. This is happening with sharks. The number of foreign restaurants serving shark dishes or shark tacos are multiplying, especially in the US. <\/span>
\n<\/span>Shark finning\u00a0is illegal in many parts of the world, including Europe, however, buying and selling\u00a0shark products, including fins, is legal\u00a0in most countries, which is why shark fin soup\u00a0regularly appears on restaurant menus and the shark market keeps expanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

This increasing demand for shark has resulted into the overexploitation of many species. The shark fin market is definitely the main cause of the destruction of shark populations, but the lack of\u00a0sustainable fishery, policies and regulations concerning this matter also allows too many animals to be caught accidentally\u00a0in nets or on long-lines initially meant for other species like tuna. In the Mediterranean sea, some examples,reported in the Pew Charitable Trust Fact Sheet are <\/span>mako, blue, thresher and porbeagle sharks. <\/span>Currently there are no limitations on the \u00a0quantities of sharks captured. This also makes it hard to track precisely what is happening and how many sharks are caught and sold.\u00a0Because of this unclear situation, the populations of many species have been drastically reduced.<\/span><\/p>\n

If all of this shark meat is often readily available in restaurants and supermarkets, why don\u2019t we notice it? This\u00a0product\u00a0is\u00a0rarely labelled as what it is. A common case is when\u00a0you order fish and chips without specifying which fish\u00a0you would like. In this situation\u00a0there is a high probability that the fish you will receive is shark sold as flake fish or huss fish; it has a very similar consistency, tenderness, and whiteness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Italy specifically, sharks are sold as smeriglio, can bianco, cagneto, missola, pallouna, nizza, stera, cagnolo, penna, vitello di mare, gattucci, spinaroli and cani spellati; blue sharks are sold as more valuable smoothhounds (palombo) while porbeagle and mako can be found, fortunately not too often anymore, as swordfish (pesce spada). The best sellers among the listed above are palombo and gattucci.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"eating<\/p>\n

According to the Pew Charitable Trusts document, in<\/span> 2008, scientists reported that the mediterranean populations of hammerheads, threshers, porbeagles, makos and blue sharks declined by 97-99% and that the diversity of shark species in the Adriatic Sea and Gulf of Lion has been reduced \u00a0to 50% over the last five decades<\/span>. It goes on to say that \u00a0\u201c<\/span>[m]ost Mediterranean sharks remain completely unprotected from overfishing and the only sharks to receive EU protection in the Mediterranean are basking, white and angel sharks; moreover european catches of Northeast Atlantic spiny dogfish, porbeagle and deepwater sharks are limited, but at levels above scientific advice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bFisheries policies around the world are very different according to the different nations, as for any other field. In fact, international seas have different regulations from European seas and this makes the Mediterranean sea vulnerable since it is shared by EU e non-EU countries. The cooperation among all countries\u00a0has to be very strong making sure that the few rules concerning shark fishing are respected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shark\u2019s decline impacts drastically the ecosystem. According to Shark Alliance a global shark conservation momentum has begun in 2004. It is reported on their website that: \u201cCountries around the world worked together on an unprecedented scale to prepare for implementation of new landmark shark protections. Under these new rules, part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, global trade in sharks that are commercially exploited in large numbers is being regulated for the first time. Also governments that are part of the U.N. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals agreed to protect 21 shark and ray species at their meeting held in Quito, Ecuador, in November 2014.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Consciences are awakening <\/span>and the right path to follow seems to be getting clearer.<\/span> L<\/span>et\u2019s hope for more restrictions to prevent the threat to any other species and for laws that will <\/span>worldwide <\/span>ensure the consumers to be informed about what they are buying or eating, without tricks to hide the sale of illegal products.<\/span><\/p>\n

by Alessandra Altimare<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These scary predators are disappearing from our oceans, but no one seems to be hungry for them<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22331,"featured_media":26029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","show_related_posts":true,"relatore_articolo_journal":"","autore_articolo_journal":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}