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The truth about your shark fin soup

Dubai - Getting to the bottom of shark fishing in the UAE: dos, don'ts and grey areas

Last fortnight, a four-metre-long, two-tonne shark in the waters of Fujairah allegedly jumped on board a fishing boat, and was killed. Since that incident, there have been debates raging over whether it had been necessary to kill the shark - since 25 per cent of the world's shark population is endangered. Some reports point out that the said shark was probably harmless. In light of the prevailing confusion, we take stock of the ethics surrounding shark fishing in the UAE - since shark fins is considered a delicacy.

10 ENDANGERED SHARKS

That you cannot ?fish and/or trade ?in UAE

1. Sawfishes Pristidae

2. Whale Shark

3. Great Hammerhead Shark

4. Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

5. Smooth Hammerhead Shark

6. Oceanic White Tip Shark

7. Porbeagle Shark

8. Basking Shark

9. Great White Shark

10. Mantas

In September 2014, UAE's Ministry of Environment and Water enforced ministerial decree no. 500 to regulate the fishing and trading of sharks. Fishing has to be limited to waters that are not less than five nautical miles from the country's shoreline and three nautical miles from the country's islands.

At Deira fish market, spotting a shark is no big deal. You find them in abundance. "Four kilo, Dh60," says Mohamad Yar, a fishmonger, when asked for the price of a medium-sized shark lying chin-up atop chips of ice at shop number 68. That's one kilo of the black-eared shark for Dh15. The white-eared ones are cheaper - a kilo for Dh10.

Mohamad Yar and his friend at shop 69, Fida Hussain, say "hotel people" come early morning to stock up for the day's shark dishes in their restaurants - fin soup and such like. Some days, they say, less than ten people come to buy 'yaryoor' - Arabic for shark. But on Fridays, and early in the month, when salaries have freshly arrived, it's a mad house, the mongers say. Lots of people buy lots of fish, shark too.

Oliver Kerr, Senior Marine Conservation Officer, Emirates Wildlife Society-WWF says, "The UAE has laws, which control but do not prohibit the trade in shark products in the country, and as such products can still be sold in fish markets". But there is a trading ban on at least 10 types of shark (see box). Hacking off fins (of any type of sharks, whether endangered or not) and discarding the rest of the fish is, however, illegal. The animal rights problem was with poachers tossing the bleeding body of the shark back in the ocean once they had sawed off its fins. "If the shark is not listed in the Ministerial Decree No 500, it is allowed to be fished and traded," an International Fund for Animal Welfare spokesperson told KT.

Several permissions have to be obtained before fishing in shark-infested waters. Boats, for one, have to be registered. Fishermen whose boats have been entered in the ministry's general register are permitted to fish for sharks from July 1 every year to the end of January the following year. Other boxes have to be ticked: the hooks with which fishermen fish need to meet specifications regarding measurement, etc.

An important humane aspect: Sharks have to brought to the landing site in one piece; no tossing bleeding carcasses of sharks back into the ocean. At every step, the ministry's permission is required. And the bottom line for shark trade in the UAE is that the paperwork and permits of fishermen and traders need to be in watertight order for any sharks to be reeled in and sold.

Shark fin soup is not as popular here as it is in the Far East Asian markets, but Kerr says, "Consumers should not buy or eat shark fins or any other product unless it is certified through an independent, credible certification process and that there is evidence that that product has been caught legally. As of today, no shark fin or other shark products meet these requirements. We would encourage seafood lovers to raise questions and ask where the seafood they are purchasing comes from." As consumers, we all have a role to play in protecting our marine environment.

nivriti@khaleejtimes.com