Chinese ship caught with banned shark fins in Pacific Ocean

Kiribati, a small Pacific nation in proximity to Hawaii, apprehended a Chinese ship this month for engaging in illegal shark fin harvesting, maritime officials informed AFP. The act of removing shark fins from live sharks and discarding the bodies back into the sea is prohibited in most of the Pacific Ocean due to demand in East and Southeast Asia.

The Chinese vessel was part of a four-ship seizure conducted by 11 Pacific island nations, with U.S. Coast Guard assistance in certain regions and an Australian military plane. Kiribati operates its own patrol boat despite being licensed for passage through its waters; it was seized by the maritime police following the discovery of shark fins onboard, according to commander Tom Redfern.

The ship was transferred to Christmas Island for a more thorough investigation. Kiribati boasts an exclusive economic zone covering 1.4 million square miles of ocean and has garnered interest from Chinese state corporations since altering diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan in 2019. The United States has expressed concern that this shift might escalate regional tensions.

A maritime boarding officer from Kiribati, not part of a shiprider agreement, boarded the vessel and conducted the inspection, revealing the illegal retention of shark fins onboard, as stated by Redfern. Kiribati has recently intensified collaboration with France, with French military personnel scheduled to arrive next month on Christmas Island to restore local police stations.

Shark finning, the practice of removing fins from live sharks and discarding the mutilated creatures, is banned throughout the region. The inhumane aspects of the shark fin trade are well-documented. Shark finning typically entails chopping off fins from live sharks and discarding the damaged animals back into the ocean, where they perish from blood loss, drowning, or predation.

Andrew Chin, a fisheries researcher at Australia's James Cook University, explained that finning has resulted in significant reductions in shark populations, prompting stringent controls in the Pacific. As finning is now illegal, those engaging in it are likely to conceal their activities and make detection exceedingly difficult, he added.

Research on the DNA of thousands of shark fins sold at Hong Kong markets indicated their origins in the region. Demian Chapman, who led the study as director of the Sharks and Rays Conservation Research Program at Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, commented on the illegal trade evidence from both the western and eastern edges of the Pacific.

Other instances of Chinese vessels breaching the finning ban have been documented, he informed AFP. Lower demand for shark fin soup in China, including a ban on serving it at government events, has contributed to a decline in the number of fins traded in Hong Kong, Chapman added. In November, U.S. authorities collaborated with the Peruvian government to seize approximately 10,000 shark fins intended for China, which took place at a port in Lima.

The operation resulted in the arrest of three individuals linked to a transnational criminal network engaged in illegal fishing and wildlife smuggling, according to officials. In 2020, wildlife inspectors at a port in Miami discovered 1,400 pounds of dried shark fins.