Abstract
The increasing consumption of shark products, along with the shark’s fishing vulnerabilities, has led to the decrease in certain shark populations. In this study we used a DNA barcoding method to identify the species of shark landings at fishing ports, shark fin products in retail stores, and shark fins detained by Taiwan customs. In total we identified 23, 24, and 14 species from 231 fishing landings, 316 fin products, and 113 detained shark fins, respectively. All the three sample sources were dominated by Prionace glauca, which accounted for more than 30% of the collected samples. Over 60% of the species identified in the fin products also appeared in the port landings, suggesting the domestic-dominance of shark fin products in Taiwan. However, international trade also contributes a certain proportion of the fin product markets, as four species identified from the shark fin products are not found in Taiwan’s waters, and some domestic-available species were also found in the customs-detained sample. In addition to the species identification, we also found geographical differentiation in the cox1 gene of the common thresher sharks (Alopias vulpinus), the pelagic thresher shark (A. pelagicus), the smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), and the scalloped hammerhead shark (S. lewini). This result might allow fishing authorities to more effectively trace the origins as well as enforce the management and conservation of these sharks.
Highlights
Shark, once regarded mainly as a by-catch product with low value [1,2,3], have recently become a main conservation concern [4,5,6]
In total we identified 23 species from the 231 port landings sample, 24 species from the 316 shark fin products (Table 2), and 14 species from the 113 detained shark fins provided by Kaohsiung customs (Table 3)
The identified species were ranked according to the sample number, with the percentages shown in the parentheses
Summary
Once regarded mainly as a by-catch product with low value [1,2,3], have recently become a main conservation concern [4,5,6]. To satisfy its growing demand, Asia imports roughly 10,000–20,000 tons of shark fins per year for the purpose of consumption [7]. The huge annual consumption in China, which accounts for over 80% of the world’s shark trade [8], might play a major role in the overexploitation of shark resources. Shark population decreases and collapses have been reported world-wide by several studies [9,10,11]. Characterized by a life history of slow growth, late maturity, and low fecundity, the shark is extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and has low population resilience to overfishing [11,12,13]. Because sharks are often at the top of marine food webs and play keystone roles in many
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