Illegal shark product trade evident in Australia and New Zealand

Research from the University of Adelaide’s School of Biological Sciences and Wildlife Crime Research Hub has highlighted evidence of shark products entering both Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, including clear patterns in flows between the two countries.

According to the study, published in Pacific Conservation Biology, the products identified were carried in personal luggage and postage, likely transported for personal use, as trophies, or for resale or consumption.

Most products seized upon entry to Australia came from Asia, and the most seized commodity was fin products. Trophy items, such as preserved specimens, were more likely to originate from the United States of America.

“Over one-third of chondrichthyan species, which includes sharks and shark-like rays, are currently threatened with extinction, with all threatened shark species also overfished,” says Josephine Lingard, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Adelaide.

“Shark species are widely sought after for their fins, and many are used for shark fin soup, a delicacy and status symbol primarily consumed in Southeast Asia.

“While the global trade in shark meat has been steadily increasing since the early 2000s, the trade of legally collected shark fins—where sharks are brought to land with fins still attached to the body—has been decreasing.”

Asia was also the most common region of origin for products entering Aotearoa/New Zealand, but Oceania followed closely, with Australia being the most dominant country of origin in both passenger and mail seizures.

“We did not expect Australia to be a dominant country of origin for seizures in Aotearoa/New Zealand, given Australia showed a decline in the number of seizures over time and Aotearoa/New Zealand’s seizures increased,” says Lingard.

“However, we suspect the occurrence of seizures from Australia may be due to Aotearoa/New Zealand’s geographic position and international flight connections.

“But it may also be the case that sharks are potentially being caught and products processed and/or purchased in Australia and taken to Aotearoa/New Zealand, or simply that Australia is listed as the country of origin but is merely a stopover location for passengers traveling from elsewhere.”

Lingard’s study drew on border seizure data from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand to investigate where shark products originated from and whether there were country-specific differences in the products traded through time.

The study also found there was inconsistent data on the species of shark used in intercepted products, meaning the impact of these products on threatened and endangered species is unclear.

“Less than 1% of seizures from both countries contained species-specific information, but 14 of the 18 seized species that were identified were listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species,” says Lingard.

“The lack of species information across the datasets we reviewed matches general shark fisheries data, where species are often grouped using harmonized system codes, which impedes conservation management of species and makes the monitoring of threatened species increasingly difficult.

“Increased efforts to investigate and record accurate species information across wildlife seizures will greatly assist in understanding the patterns and drivers of the illegal wildlife trade, and help deliver real-world actions to help conserve threatened species.”

Citation:

Josephine Lingard et al, Transnational shark trade: personal baggage and postal seizures in Australia and New Zealand, Pacific Conservation Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1071/PC25006

This article by Johnny von Einem , University of Adelaide was first published by Phys.org on 2 July 2025. Lead Image: A great white shark surfaces off the coast of Victoria, Australia. If you’re being attacked and fighting back, try to avoid the dangerous mouth and go for the gills behind the mouth near the pectoral fins. Kelvin Aitken/VWPics/AP.

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