{
  "id": 15774022,
  "title": "As silky sharks decline, Costa Rica’s dominant trade faces a reckoning",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/as-silky-sharks-decline-costa-ricas-dominant-trade-faces-a-reckoning",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-20T17:03:20.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mongabay",
    "slug": "mongabay",
    "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-silky-sharks-decline-costa-ricas-dominant-trade-faces-a-reckoning/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In 2018, shark biologist Diego Cardeñosa witnessed a shocking sight—an inspection facility in Hong Kong stacked with over 50 kilogram bags, each filled with shark fins. The experience, which proved to be a reality check for the young scientist, led him to continue his research on shark trade in the following years. Cardeñosa, now a researcher at Florida International University, returned to Hong Kong multiple times from 2015 to 2020 as part of his field research at Stony Brook University to train law enforcement in using a mobile DNA kit to identify shark species under CITES regulations. Finning of silky sharks, a species heavily targeted for their fins used in shark fin soup, was one of the issues Cardeñosa observed during his visits to Hong Kong in 2018. Shark populations globally have declined drastically over the past 50 years, with a 2024 study revealing that overfishing has reduced over 1,200 species by half since 1970.",
  "summary": "Inside an inspection facility in Hong Kong in 2018, shark biologist Diego Cardeñosa stared at dozens of large white bags. They were stacked, sometimes six or seven high, beneath strip lights hanging from the ceiling. Each bag weighed more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) — and was stuffed with shark fins. “It was the first […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}