The head of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), Rodrigo Agostinho, announced on Thursday (Mar. 26) a nationwide ban on the export of blue shark fins detached from the animal’s body.

“In Brazil, we already have a ban on finning, which involves removing the fins and returning the animal to the sea while it is still alive. That ban already existed. But there was no ban on the export of the fins,” said Agostinho at a press conference.

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Shark fins are highly prized in the Asian market and are used in the preparation of soups, among other dishes.

The blue shark is already listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty to which Brazil is a signatory. Imports of species listed in the two appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) will also be prohibited.

“We already had a ban on fishing for these sharks here in Brazil, but we detected the importation of these threatened species,” Agostinho noted.

Action plan

The decision was announced following the approval of the Blue Shark Action Plan at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (COP15) in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. With consensus among countries, the implementation of these measures through national public policies is now mandatory.

“Ibama is the technical administrative authority for CITES in Brazil. We are also incorporating this ban. These are import and export rules, and perhaps the most relevant is to put an end to the trade in blue shark fins,” he concluded.