Brazilian authorities seized more than 1.5 metric tons of shark fins in Rodelas, Bahia state, on Feb. 12, uncovering what they allege is a Chinese run syndicate. They arrested seven people, including three Chinese nationals, in the raid at a rural processing site.
Shark species such as the vulnerable Atlantic nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) and the near-threatened blue shark (Prionace glauca) are likely among the target species, IBAMA, the federal environment agency, told Mongabay. Genetic tests to confirm that are underway.
“[Shark finning] is extremely cruel, because the fins are torn off, the animals are mutilated alive and thrown back into the sea so they don’t take up space on the vessel, since these criminals are interested only in the fins,” federal police agent Micael Andrade, told national TV station Globo. “The animal is discarded and agonizes and dies. Because it cannot move, it sinks. It cannot feed itself. It really is an extremely cruel practice.”
Authorities said the suspects, including a teenager, will face charges including crimes against wildlife, receiving stolen goods and corruption of a minor.
Andrade said the three Chinese suspects were likely coordinating the scheme.
“It became clear that only the Chinese men were in fact part of the international shark fin trading network,” he said. “They [the four Brazilian suspects] were poor workers earning daily wages to make some money. They did not even know how the entire operation worked, nor the origin or destination of the fins.”
In June 2023, Brazilian authorities seized almost 29 metric tons of shark fins, considered the largest such seizure ever recorded. The previous largest seizure was recorded in Hong Kong in 2020, when authorities confiscated 28 metric tons of fins.
Shark finning and the targeted capture of sharks is illegal in Brazil. Brazilian law also criminalizes the storage, transport, processing and sale of shark parts without authorization. However, fins can be legally exported if sharks were caught accidentally as bycatch and the whole animal is landed — an exemption that conservationists say is a loophole for the illegal trade.
This latest seizure “indicates that ‘legal’ exports continue to serve as a front for massive smuggling,” José Truda Palazzo Junior, a member of the National Environmental Council (CONAMA) and founder of the Humpback Whale Institute, told Mongabay by text message. He said finning likely still happens “due to a lack of effective inspection of industrial fishing boats, which do not have adequate coverage by observers on board or automated control systems.”
CONAMA has proposed a complete ban on shark fins. Palazzo, a co-author of the motion for the ban, said it’s “frightening” that CONAMA’s unanimous recommendation has not been heeded yet “to ban this ‘legal’ trade once and for all.”
CONAMA’s decision amounts to a strong but nonbinding recommendation to the government,
Banner image: Shark fins seized during the police raid. Image courtesy of Brazilian Federal Police.
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