Global meet on shark trade pitches for addressing knowledge

A four-day global expert meeting on shark trade got underway at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here on Wednesday with a call to address deep knowledge gaps and support managers in management of existing shark and ray fishery across the globe.

Experts recognised some progress and also many difficulties in assessing shark trade and maintenance of sustainability of this marine resource owing to shortage of proper data.

The meet stressed the need for mapping and understanding of the full value chain of these species to secure sustainability of commercial fishery and markets, which would benefit both the stakeholders and the resources.

The event is jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the CMFRI as part of a collaborative research project.

Experts attending the discussions felt the need for well-informed guidelines for collecting and reporting information on use, markets and market chain for shark and ray commodities globally, a CMFRI release said here.

Leading the discussion, Kim Friedman, Senior Fishery Resources Officer of the FAO, said there was "severe" shortage of data on full value chain, including consumption, local and retail sale and exports, despite efforts by many countries.

This knowledge gap makes difficult to take decisions to inform the stakeholders well on what is happening the sector, he said.

Referring to the research achievements of the CMFRI in the conservation and sustainable utilisation of these species, its Director A Gopalakrishnan said the institute has already developed guidance for the National Plan of Action (NPOA) on Sharks, Non-Detriment Findings (NDF) document on CIITES listed elasmobranchs and developed DNA barcodes of more than 100 elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and guitar fish) species.

Shoba Joe Kizhakudan, Principal Scientist and the leading researcher from CMFRI in the collaborative research work with FAO, said mapping of value chain of shark trade was very much important in India where sharks are landed whole and every part of it is utilised in one form or the other.

CMFRIs studies on mapping of value chain is in progress. However, the guidance document envisaged as an output of this meeting will definitely be an asset in carrying out such studies, she said.

CMFRI has found several gaps in information on shark trade which can primarily be attributed to the difficulty in obtaining access to the stakeholder groups, particularly in the northern states of the country, she added.

Several market chains exist in India for shark products, with dried meat being sent from the south west coast to as far as the north eastern hill states, but this needs to be documented with valid data. For this, it is necessary to develop trust and transparency between researchers and stakeholders, Shoba added.