Traceability study in shark products Dr Heiner Lehr (Photo: © Francisco Blaha, 2015) Report commissioned by the CITES Secretariat This publication was funded by the European Union, through the CITES capacity-building project on aquatic species Contents 1 Summary.................................................................................................................................. 7 1.1 Structure of the remaining document ............................................................................. 9 1.2 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 10 2 The market chain ................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Shark Products ............................................................................................................... 11 2.1.1 Shark fins ............................................................................................................... 12 2.1.2 Shark meat ............................................................................................................. 12 2.1.3 Shark liver oil ......................................................................................................... 13 2.1.4 Shark cartilage ....................................................................................................... 13 2.1.5 Shark skin ............................................................................................................... 14 2.1.6 Other products ...................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Relative market volumes of shark products .................................................................. 14 2.2.1 Shark fins ............................................................................................................... 14 2.2.2 Shark meat ............................................................................................................. 16 2.2.3 Shark liver oil ......................................................................................................... 16 2.2.4 Squalane/Squalene (derived from shark liver oil) ................................................. 17 2.3 Shark catches ................................................................................................................. 18 2.3.1 Common supply chains .......................................................................................... 18 2.3.2 Illegal fishing activities ........................................................................................... 19 2.4 Regional distribution of shark trade and consumption ................................................. 20 2.4.1 European Union ..................................................................................................... 22 2.4.2 China ...................................................................................................................... 23 2.4.3 Hong Kong, SAR ..................................................................................................... 25 2.4.4 Singapore ............................................................................................................... 26 2.4.5 Recent changes in market trends .......................................................................... 26 2.5 A short overview of relevant regulations ...................................................................... 27 2.5.1 CITES regulations ................................................................................................... 27 2.5.2 United States of America ....................................................................................... 32 2.5.3 European Union ..................................................................................................... 34 2.5.4 Regulation outside of National EEZs ...................................................................... 35 2.5.5 Summary of regulations affecting catch, sale and trade of sharks ........................ 36 2.6 Challenges to shark legislation as a tool for conservation ............................................ 37 3 Existing traceability systems .................................................................................................. 39 3.1 Introduction to traceability systems .............................................................................. 39 3.1.1 What to trace: The principles of unique identification.......................................... 39 3.1.2 When to record: The principle of recording Critical Tracking Events .................... 42 3.1.3 What to record: the principle of Key Data Elements ............................................. 42 3.1.4 Information management ..................................................................................... 43 3.1.5 Traceability models for certification ...................................................................... 45 3.2 Uses of traceability ........................................................................................................ 47 3.2.1 Traceability for regulatory compliance .................................................................. 47 3.2.2 Traceability for statistics ........................................................................................ 48 3.3 Examples of traceability systems ................................................................................... 48 3.3.1 EPCIS: Generic traceability system standard ......................................................... 48 3.3.2 VeriLabel: Traceability for authenticity .................................................................. 49 3.3.3 TraceVerified: traceability for transparency .......................................................... 50 3.3.4 KnownSources: traceability for sustainability........................................................ 51 3.3.5 GreenPalm: supporting actions for farmers .......................................................... 52 3.4 Traceability for aquatic products ................................................................................... 53 3.4.1 Current Obstacles to Traceability in Aquatic Products .......................................... 53 3.4.2 Landing Certificates in the European Union .......................................................... 54 3.4.3 A Global Framework to Ensure the Legality and Traceability of Wild-Caught Seafood 55 3.5 Main challenges to Traceability in CITES-listed shark commodities .............................. 56 3.5.1 Bringing traceability to small-scale fisheries ......................................................... 56 3.5.2 Global standardisation of traceability systems ...................................................... 56 3.5.3 Governance............................................................................................................ 57 4 Traceability as a tool to strengthen CITES processes ............................................................. 60 4.1 The potential role of traceability in CITES processes ..................................................... 60 4.2 Limitations of the use of traceability systems in the trade of shark products .............. 61 4.3 Linking to a legal origination process ............................................................................ 62 4.4 Robustness of the legal origination process .................................................................. 62 4.5 Conversion between raw materials and products ......................................................... 63 4.6 Linking the export certificate to a legal origination process ......................................... 64 4.7 Combination with risk management ............................................................................. 66 4.8 The resulting process ..................................................................................................... 67 4.9 Implementation strategy ............................................................................................... 68 4.10 SWOT analysis of the traceability system proposal ....................................................... 72 4.11 Next steps ...................................................................................................................... 72 5 Recommendations for consideration of the Parties .............................................................. 74 5.1 General, non-traceability specific recommendations ................................................... 74 5.2 Specific recommendations concerning traceability ...................................................... 74 6 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 76 7 Annex I: CITES-listed species.................................................................................................. 85 7.1 Appendix I Species ......................................................................................................... 85 7.1.1 Mobulid rays .......................................................................................................... 85 7.2 Appendix II Species ........................................................................................................ 87 7.2.1 Requiem sharks ..................................................................................................... 87 7.2.2 Hammerhead sharks .............................................................................................