01 SHARK FIN DEMAND IN THAILAND SHARK FIN DEMAND IN THAILAND ABOUT WILDAID WildAid’s mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through public awareness campaigns and providing comprehensive marine protection. The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth over $10 billion per year and has drastically reduced many wildlife populations around the world. Just like the drug trade, law and enforcement eforts have not been able to resolve the problem. Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent protecting animals in the wild, yet virtually nothing is spent on stemming the demand for wildlife parts and products. WildAid is the only organization with a mission focused on reducing the demand for these products, with the strong and simple message: When the buying stops, the killing can too. WildAid works with hundreds of Asian and Western celebrities, business leaders, sports and political fgures, including the Duke of Cambridge, Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, Li Bingbing, Tony Jaa and Sir Richard Branson, to dissuade CONTENTS people from purchasing endangered wildlife products. These public service messages and educational initiatives reach hundreds of millions of people per week in Asia through donated media space. www.wildaid.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 05 Contact Information THREATS TO SHARKS 06 WILDAID 333 Pine St, Suite 300 THAILAND’S ROLE IN THE SHARK FIN TRADE 11 San Francisco, CA 94104 Tel: 415.834.3174 THAILAND SHARK FIN AWARENESS AND ATTITUDINAL SURVEY 17 Rabia Mushtaq REFERENCES 22 [email protected] Nuthatai Chotechuang [email protected] CONSUMER SURVEY CONDUCTED BY Rapid Asia Co., Ltd PHOTOGRAPHERS Sirachai Arunrugstichai Joakim Odelburg Tim Howard COVER PHOTO Sirachai Arunrugstichai DESIGNER Tatcharee Lertkitcha COVER PHOTO CAPTION Under the morning light, an auction note is visible on the rows of adult bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, at Ranong fsh landing site, Ranong, Thailand. After the auctions, these sharks are sent to the processing factory prior to being butchered for diferent kinds of consumption. wildaid.org/sharks SHARK FIN DEMAND IN THAILAND 04 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 05 Many of the planet’s vulnerable shark species face extreme Survey results show that the consumption of shark fn in population pressures owing to overfshing, often driven Thailand is already widespread with potential to become by demand for shark fns. To address this issue, WildAid a signifcant market for the shark fn trade, with 57% focused its initial demand reduction eforts for shark fn in having, on occasion, consumed shark fn. Twenty-nine the main consumer markets – mainland China and Hong percent had consumed shark fn within the previous Kong. Using high-impact multimedia campaigns featuring 12 months, with 86% of those having eaten the dish at celebrity ambassadors, WildAid created TV advertisements least 2-5 times during that period. It is also common for and billboards, along with print, online and social media shark fn to be eaten at multiple social events, especially messaging designed to educate consumers about the weddings (72%), family meals at restaurants (61%) and impacts of the shark fn trade and persuade them not to business meetings (47%). Alarmingly, the majority of buy or consume shark fn soup. With extensive state and respondents (61%) believe they will consume shark fn in private media partnerships,WildAid secured pro-bono the future, citing curiosity and having heard from others placement for these messages, amounting to US$286 that it tastes good, although shark fn itself has no favor million in 2016 in China alone. Media reports estimate (favor comes mostly from the broth that it is cooked in that there has been a 50 to 70% decrease in shark fn and added ingredients). consumption in China since 2011. In October 2016, WildAid also surveyed the Thai public to better understand China’s CITES management authority announced that how aware they are of issues facing sharks and found worrying shark fn consumption in China had fallen by more than results. Only 50% of those surveyed knew that sharks are 80% since 2011. WildAid surveys have indicated that the often killed just for their fns. campaigns have been broadly viewed and reportedly have prompted many people to give up shark fn. The combination of a high number of consumers will- ing to try shark fn in the future, along with the large In 2017, WildAid and Rapid Asia conducted an online survey proportion of people unaware about the magnitude and in Thailand to better understand shark fn consumption cruelty of the shark fn trade, could indicate potential for and overall awareness and attitudes on issues relating increased demand for fns in Thailand. to sharks and the shark fn trade. The survey was part of a regional efort to better understand shark fn consumption in Southeast Asia. EVERY YEAR, APPROXIMATELY 100 MILLION SHARKS ARE KILLED GLOBALLY, WITH FINS FROM UP TO 73 MILLION USED FOR SHARK FIN SOUP. wildaid.org/sharks SHARK FIN DEMAND IN THAILAND 06 THREATS TO 07 SHARKS TABLE 1 COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME FIN PRODUCT IUCN RED IUCN TREND DECLINE* CITES Estimates of global fshery mortality of sharks range from 63 to 273 million sharks per year, with a conservative NAME LIST STATUS LISTING annual estimate of 100 million sharks. Most shark species targeted by fshers are large-bodied and slow to reproduce, making these high rates of oftake unsustainable. BLUE SHARK Prionace glauca Ya Jian NT Unknown 60 – 87% Not listed While shark products used by humans include meat, skin, teeth and oil, it has been the far higher market SHORTFIN MAKO Isurus oxyrinchus Qing Lian VU Decreasing 40 – 99% Not listed value of shark fns, primarily in China, that has driven the demand for these animals and their population SHARK declines in the wild. Of the fourteen shark species most prevalent in the shark fn trade (Table 1), four are SILKY SHARK Carcharinus Wu Yang NT Decreasing 60 – 91% Appendix II classifed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Near Threatened and ten falciformis are classifed as Vulnerable or Endangered, meaning that they are considered to be at high/very high risk of extinction in the wild. All fourteen species have experienced regional population declines, ranging from DUSKY SHARK Carcharinus Hai Hu VU Decreasing 62 – 92% Not listed 40-99% (Table 1). obscurus SANDBAR SHARK Carcharinus Bai Qing VU Decreasing 65 – 97% Not listed plumbeus TIGER SHARK Galeocerdo cuvier Ruan Sh NT Unknown 65 ->97% Not listed SMOOTH/ Sphyrna lewini/ Chun Chi EN/VU Unknown/ 64 - >99% Appendix II SCALLOPED zygaena Decreasing HAMMERHEAD GREAT Sphyrna mokarran Gu Pian EN Decreasing 79% – total Appendix II HAMMERHEAD collapse COMMON/ BIGEYE/ Alopias spp. Wu Gu VU Decreasing 50 – 83% Appendix II PELAGIC THRESHER SHARK BULL SHARK Carcharinus Sha Qing NT Unknown 98.6 – 99.99% Not listed leucaas OCEANIC WHITETIP Carcharinus Liu Qiu VU Decreasing 70 – 99% Appendix II longimanus * Regional declines cited from scientifc literature (see references). The range in numbers is due to studies of declines in diferent regions over diferent time periods. Most estimates refer to declines over a 20-30 year period. Buckets of different species of whaler sharks from the Andaman Sea are arranged at the landing NT=Near threatened, VU=Vulnerable, EN= Endangered port of the Fish Marketing Organization in Phuket, Thailand. © Sirachai Arunrugstichai wildaid.org/sharks SHARK FIN DEMAND IN THAILAND 08 TRADE 09 Clockwise from left: A shark fn trader trims cartilage from a pectoral fn of a Over the past several years, as international awareness of the ecological importance of bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, caught shark species as apex predators has grown, more than 30 countries have banned the from the Andaman Sea in a shark practice of “fnning”, defned as removing fns and discarding the sharks’ bodies at sea to processing factory in Ranong, Thailand; maximize cargo space for the more valuable fns. In some of these countries, the ban takes the form of a prohibition on landing fns unless they are naturally attached to the body of Laborers drag an adult bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, onto a motorcycle the shark. A further 22 countries have adopted bans on shark fshing. Of these, twelve ban trailer after the auction at a fsh landing shark fshing altogether, while the remainder ban commercial fshing for sharks, or operate site in Ranong, Thailand; time/area closures of shark fsheries. A pile of newborn bull sharks, However, given the prevalence of illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fshing, and Carcharhinus leucas, arranged for the fact that most countries still do not ban fnning, the practice continues globally. auction at a fsh landing site in Ranong, In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – among the top ten shark fn exporting countries – Thailand. shark fnning remains legal. © Sirachai Arunrugstichai PROTECTION CITES currently lists twelve species of shark on Appendix II: White shark (Carcharodon carcharias), Whale shark (Rhincodon typus), Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), Porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus), Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), Silky shark (C. falciformis), Bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus), Common thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus), Pelagic thresher shark (Alopias pelagicus), Scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini), Smooth hammerhead shark (S. zygaena) and Great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran). CITES defnes Appendix II species as “[those] not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.” This defnition does not uniformly refect the status of the same species as assessed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Table 1). wildaid.org/sharks SHARK FIN DEMAND IN THAILAND 10 THAILAND’S ROLE IN 11 THE SHARK FIN TRADE A pair of shark fns can sell for as much as US$1,000 per kg in Asia. Some shark populations have declined by up to 98% in the last 15 years and nearly one third of pelagic shark species are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.