Publication Name

The Fiji Times

Author(s)

Ilaitia Turagabeci

Sharks that lure tourists back to our waters in a multi-million-dollar industry are seeing red.

Ten species of sharks highlighted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on its Red List, which gauges the level of threat against endangered wildlife species, have been identified as top-of-the-range in Fiji's fin trade.

And among the ICUN's "near threatened" and "vulnerable" red-listed sharks are the country's main attractions in shark-related tourism activities.

A study on the shark fin trade in Suva conducted by Dr Demian Chapman, the assistant director of science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, Stony Creek University in New York, shows that a large amount of sharks killed for their fins are those that frequent dive spots which tourists visit for shark encounters.

The alarming statistics collated after his assessment with officials of the Fisheries Department in March this year proved their theory that sharks from Fiji waters are being killed and traded in large volumes to China, where it is a delicacy among the growing population of the rich.

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Fiji sharks on the ICUN's Red List are the scalloped hammerhead shark (endangered), oceanic whitetip shark (vulnerable), bigeye threasher shark (vulnerable), smooth hammerhead (vulnerable), sicklefin lemon (vulnerable), silky sharks (near threatened), blue sharks (near threatened), shortfin mako (near threatened), tiger shark (near threatened) and blacktip reef sharks (near threatened).

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Read the full article, Fiji’s Endangered Sharks Top Fin Trade on the Fiji Times website.