Joint Statement by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) and the Life Conservationist Association (LCA) ◆ May 23, 2022

Worldwide, an estimated 73 to 100 million sharks are killed each year at the hands of humans. As sharks grow slowly and produce few young, a third of shark, ray and chimaera species are threatened with extinction due to overfishing. The IUCN Red List classifies a number of shark species as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable, in urgent need of conservation and restoration. Sharks play a critical role in marine ecosystems and are vital to marine biodiversity. Shark fins are the most valuable part of a shark, so refusing to eat shark fin products is essential for reducing demand for sharks.

In 2012, the Fisheries Agency of Taiwan promulgated measures to control the import of shark fins, outlining basic responsibilities for shark fin importers. However, these regulations were unable to effectively ensure the legal origin of imported shark fins. The Fisheries Agency published draft amendments to the import control measures in November 2021 and March 2022. EAST and LCA submitted recommendations during the public consultation, urging the government to fulfill its responsibility to prevent the importation of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) catch and to ensure the traceability of shark fins.

In response to our recommendations, the Fisheries Agency announced the revised Measures Governing the Importation of Shark Fins in May 2022. The new measures include two key provisions.

Firstly, legal catch certificates will soon include key catch history information, making the source of shark fins more transparent. The catch history includes 20 unique data elements across five categories. Secondly, if the shark fins did not originate from the exporting country, the importer must submit a re-export certificate.

In other words, in the future, all imported shark fins will be accompanied by a legal catch certificate that includes detailed traceability information from the point of catch, through transshipment and landing, to processing and export. This will make the source of the shark fins clear and help to prevent the importation of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fisheries products.

The second provision addresses the possibility that shark fins may be imported from a third country, rather than being caught in the exporting country. In such cases, the importer will be required to provide a re-export certificate to prove that the fins are not from IUU sources.

The new measures also impose additional restrictions on fishing vessels and flag states. Shark fins cannot be imported into Taiwan if the vessel is not on the list of approved vessels published by the relevant regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) for the current year, or if the flag state has been listed as "non-cooperating" by other countries – such as the EU and the United States – or by an RFMO. The regulations cover 17 types of products, including fresh and processed shark fin products.

EAST and LCA call on the Fisheries Agency to strictly enforce the regulations on the shark fin trade and to continue to crack down on the practice of shark finning to protect the sustainability of our marine ecosystems.

Appendix: Key catch history information that must be included in legal catch certificates.

Translated by: Yilun Lin (林以倫)