Brazilian authorities have made a massive seizure of illicit shark fins, according to the official wire service Agencia Brasil.
Nearly 29 tons of the contraband were impounded by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the news agency said.
The reported record haul, from an estimated 10,000 sharks of mostly the blue and mako species, was thought to be destined for illegal export to Asia. The fins were found at commercial premises in Santa Catarina state and also at Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo.
Shark fishing is banned in Brazilian waters. According to Ibama, alleged perpetrators “made use of licences to capture other species of fish and operated with rates above 80 percent of the permitted load”.
[See more: Why is shark fin still on Macao restaurant menus?]
Ibama, an arm of Brazil’s environment ministry, warns that indiscriminate and irregular fishing has caused the reduction of shark populations around the world and put several species at risk of extinction, with the mako shark classed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Hong Kong is the global centre of the world’s shark fin trade, re-exporting most of the fins to mainland China and other Asian markets, where they are regarded as a delicacy and a tonic.
The illegal killing of sharks also fuels a booming, billion-dollar market for shark oil (found in cosmetics), meat, cartilage and shark byproducts used in fertiliser.
