DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub
Shark fins are a delicacy consumed throughout Southeast Asia. The life history characteristics of sharks and the challenges associated with regulating fisheries and the fin trade make sharks particularly susceptible to overfishing. Here, we used DNA barcoding techniques to investigate the compositio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Jezik: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2024-01-01
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| Serija: | PeerJ |
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| Online dostop: | https://peerj.com/articles/16647.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827389472853983232 |
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| author | Kai-Lin Selena Shen Jin Jie Cheow Abigail Belle Cheung Ryan Jia Rong Koh Amanda Koh Xiao Mun Yun Ning Lee Yan Zhen Lim Maya Namatame Eileen Peng Vladislav Vintenbakh Elisa X.Y. Lim Benjamin John Wainwright |
| author_facet | Kai-Lin Selena Shen Jin Jie Cheow Abigail Belle Cheung Ryan Jia Rong Koh Amanda Koh Xiao Mun Yun Ning Lee Yan Zhen Lim Maya Namatame Eileen Peng Vladislav Vintenbakh Elisa X.Y. Lim Benjamin John Wainwright |
| author_sort | Kai-Lin Selena Shen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Shark fins are a delicacy consumed throughout Southeast Asia. The life history characteristics of sharks and the challenges associated with regulating fisheries and the fin trade make sharks particularly susceptible to overfishing. Here, we used DNA barcoding techniques to investigate the composition of the shark fin trade in Singapore, a globally significant trade hub. We collected 505 shark fin samples from 25 different local seafood and Traditional Chinese Medicine shops. From this, we identified 27 species of shark, three species are listed as Critically Endangered, four as Endangered and ten as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Six species are listed on CITES Appendix II, meaning that trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival. All dried fins collected in this study were sold under the generic term “shark fin”; this vague labelling prevents accurate monitoring of the species involved in the trade, the effective implementation of policy and conservation strategy, and could unwittingly expose consumers to unsafe concentrations of toxic metals. The top five most frequently encountered species in this study are Rhizoprionodon acutus, Carcharhinus falciformis, Galeorhinus galeus, Sphyrna lewini and Sphyrna zygaena. Accurate labelling that indicates the species of shark that a fin came from, along with details of where it was caught, allows consumers to make an informed choice on the products they are consuming. Doing this could facilitate the avoidance of species that are endangered, and similarly the consumer can choose not to purchase species that are documented to contain elevated concentrations of toxic metals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:37:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7b31aea6dffe42c8915d663605cf3631 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:37:16Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-7b31aea6dffe42c8915d663605cf36312024-01-05T15:05:16ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592024-01-0112e1664710.7717/peerj.16647DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hubKai-Lin Selena Shen0Jin Jie Cheow1Abigail Belle Cheung2Ryan Jia Rong Koh3Amanda Koh Xiao Mun4Yun Ning Lee5Yan Zhen Lim6Maya Namatame7Eileen Peng8Vladislav Vintenbakh9Elisa X.Y. Lim10Benjamin John Wainwright11Yale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeYale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, SingaporeShark fins are a delicacy consumed throughout Southeast Asia. The life history characteristics of sharks and the challenges associated with regulating fisheries and the fin trade make sharks particularly susceptible to overfishing. Here, we used DNA barcoding techniques to investigate the composition of the shark fin trade in Singapore, a globally significant trade hub. We collected 505 shark fin samples from 25 different local seafood and Traditional Chinese Medicine shops. From this, we identified 27 species of shark, three species are listed as Critically Endangered, four as Endangered and ten as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Six species are listed on CITES Appendix II, meaning that trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival. All dried fins collected in this study were sold under the generic term “shark fin”; this vague labelling prevents accurate monitoring of the species involved in the trade, the effective implementation of policy and conservation strategy, and could unwittingly expose consumers to unsafe concentrations of toxic metals. The top five most frequently encountered species in this study are Rhizoprionodon acutus, Carcharhinus falciformis, Galeorhinus galeus, Sphyrna lewini and Sphyrna zygaena. Accurate labelling that indicates the species of shark that a fin came from, along with details of where it was caught, allows consumers to make an informed choice on the products they are consuming. Doing this could facilitate the avoidance of species that are endangered, and similarly the consumer can choose not to purchase species that are documented to contain elevated concentrations of toxic metals.https://peerj.com/articles/16647.pdfCITESConservationIUCNMislabellingSingaporeSeafood |
| spellingShingle | Kai-Lin Selena Shen Jin Jie Cheow Abigail Belle Cheung Ryan Jia Rong Koh Amanda Koh Xiao Mun Yun Ning Lee Yan Zhen Lim Maya Namatame Eileen Peng Vladislav Vintenbakh Elisa X.Y. Lim Benjamin John Wainwright DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub PeerJ CITES Conservation IUCN Mislabelling Singapore Seafood |
| title | DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub |
| title_full | DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub |
| title_fullStr | DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub |
| title_full_unstemmed | DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub |
| title_short | DNA barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub |
| title_sort | dna barcoding continues to identify endangered species of shark sold as food in a globally significant shark fin trade hub |
| topic | CITES Conservation IUCN Mislabelling Singapore Seafood |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/16647.pdf |
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