Canada uncovers waves of illegal shark finning by high seas Pacific fishing fleets

A cruel, wasteful and illegal practice called shark finning is occurring — over and over again — on the high seas of the North Pacific.

Almost half of the 15 fishing vessels boarded by officers this fall during a multinational mission aimed at combatting illegal fishing in international waters were found to have violated one or more conservation measures, said Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) fisheries officer Dustin De Gagne. 

“We continue to see concerning trends with regards to shark finning,” said De Gagne, noting fishery officers discovered approximately 700 illegally harvested shark fins over the course of Operation North Pacific Guard.  

“These non-compliance rates are very concerning, especially compared to other regions like the Atlantic,” he said.

Overfishing, combined with finning — a cruel and wasteful practice where live sharks are caught during targeted fisheries or as bycatch, then have their fins sliced off before being discarded overboard to die because they can’t swim or breathe — are pushing shark populations to the brink of extinction. 

The species is being depleted by the demand for fins, the most valuable part of the shark, used in traditional medicine and cuisine particularly in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, the demand for shark meat is also on the rise in South America and Europe, where it is often eaten unlabelled as fish and chips. 

DFO’s recent effort to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing focused on long-distance fleets that ply waters thousands of kilometres from shore, stretching from Canada’s national 200-nautical-mile boundary to Japan. 

Canadian, Japanese and Korean fishery officers also conducted 34 surveillance flights out of Hokkaido, Japan, covering more than 50,000 nautical miles, visually inspecting 407 fishing boats. 

The aircraft, equipped with powerful cameras, captured images of shark finning, the targetted harvest of dolphins, and boats discarding plastic fishing waste like styrofoam and bait boxes overboard, De Gagne said. 

In the past 50 years, the numbers of oceanic sharks and rays have crashed by 71 per cent, and more than a third of sharks and related species like rays are threatened. 

Surge in concern over shark finning

The latest enforcement mission’s findings reflect problems identified by DFO officers during last year’s high seas patrol in the same region of the Pacific, De Gagne added.

To deter cruelty and wanton waste associated with the practice, international rules in the North Pacific — which fall under the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) — mandate captured sharks which aren’t released unharmed must be retained on board with the fin naturally attached, De Gagne said. 

If fins aren’t left on bodies, they must be attached to carcasses with wire, bagged with bodies, or if stored separately on the boat, tagged so enforcement officers at sea or in port can ensure rules are being followed, he added.

Ideally, the measures enforce the finning ban and limit the harvest of sharks due to space limitations on the vessel and encourage the whole use of the animal. 

It also allows officers to ensure endangered shark species like the oceanic white tip, silky and whale sharks aren’t being targetted, said De Gagne.

Large numbers of loose fins on inspected vessels indicate shark finning is still occurring, so Canada is pushing for stricter controls at international fishing commissions, he added. 

A dozen fishing boats were boarded by officers in 2023 and every vessel had shark fins, he said. Seven ships were found to have violated international regulations, with a total of 3,000 illegally harvested shark fins on board, and a further 81 shark carcasses were found without any apparent fins. 

Surveillance flights last year also caught images and video of shark finning and the disposal of wounded sharks overboard on multiple occasions over a number of days, according to DFO documents.

“We’re still seeing concerning trends with regards to those alternative measures [for matching fins to bodies] being implemented properly,” he said. 

“So, we are advocating for a full requirement on landing sharks with the fin naturally attached.”

Dead shark still a dead shark

Shark finning is clearly a global problem, but stronger regulations to curb it aren’t the best route for preserving shark populations primarily threatened by overfishing, said Canadian marine ecologists Boris Worm and Laurenne Schiller. 

Shark deaths are surging despite rules to combat finning and declines in the practice over the last decade or so, said Worm, a professor at Dalhousie University. 

“A dead shark is a dead shark with fins attached or not,” said Worm. 

“Finning regulations are a good idea for sure, but they're not necessarily addressing shark mortality — they're just addressing the wastefulness and the cruelty of the practice.”

Fishing rules that limit shark catches, paired with good enforcement and compliance, as well as ocean sanctuaries, do more to protect sharks than finning bans, he said. 

Shark deaths from fishing rose by up to 80 million between 2012 and 2019 — with threatened species making up almost a third of the total increase, a recent study by Worm and Schiller and other researchers shows. 

Inadvertently, finning bans that force fish harvesters to keep the whole shark might be expanding demand for the animals, said Schiller, a research scientist at Carleton University. 

“They're doing exactly what the law says, but now it means there's additional markets they can tap into, for meat, for oil, for souvenirs, and all sorts of different things that sharks can now be used for,” she said. 

The key to protecting sharks is establishing rules that forbid the harvest of threatened sharks and sustainable quotas for other populations, Worm said.

However, an accurate understanding of how many sharks are being killed globally and which populations need added protection is hindered by the lack of observation at sea and unreliable catch data, Schiller said. 

“From everything we know, mortality for most species is still too high, across the board, but there are pockets that are well-protected or being better protected,” Worm said.

DFO's next steps

DFO will bring the recent shark finning incidents and any other fisheries violations by vessels to the attention of their flag states, which are responsible for following up and enforcing any penalties, De Gagne said, adding he could not name the vessels, or their flag countries, while violations were being investigated. 

However, the vast majority of the vessels authorized to fish under the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) are high seas long line fishing vessels targeting tuna, primarily from China, Taiwan or Japan, according to commission statistics. 

If reports from those flag states about the outcomes are not satisfactory, Canada can push to ban problem vessels at the appropriate international fisheries commission, he said. 

“It’s kind of the hammer we hold in the international community,” he said. 

“It’s a large motivator [for action] not only for those fishing companies, but for the flag state and national authorities.” 

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer