A massive shark finning trade

Information has been revealed that a massive illegal trade of shark finning is being carried out by Chinese and Taiwanese tuna fishing vessels operating in the West African coastal waters. Environmentalists point out that cutting off the fins of live sharks and releasing them back into the ocean causes these animals to drown and die inhumanely.

These fins are brought to Dakar Port, one of the main ports in Senegal, and are subsequently exported to Asian countries for the production of traditional medicine and soup preparation.

According to a report released by the London-based non-governmental organization 'Environmental Justice Foundation' (EJF), this illegal practice has spread very rapidly in recent times. This report was prepared based on testimonies from 124 Indonesian and Filipino fishermen who worked on the relevant fishing vessels between 2020 and 2025. During that period, 71 out of 130 vessels that fished in the Atlantic Ocean arrived at Dakar Port, and it has been confirmed that 41 of these vessels were involved in this shark fin trade. Furthermore, 24 of these vessels directly unloaded shark fins at Dakar Port.

It has been revealed that this trade is often carried out secretly at night. Jamaludin, a 29-year-old Indonesian fisherman who worked on a Chinese-flagged vessel from 2018 to 2020, stated that he cut off shark fins daily and secretly unloaded them when there were no police officers at the port. Cheikh Ndiaye, an inspector at Senegal's Department of Fisheries Protection, states that such illegal activities occur more easily at night due to fewer people being present in the port.

A study published in 'Nature' magazine has confirmed that the global shark population has declined by approximately 71% since 1970 due to the direct impact of industrial fishing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) points out that between 80 and 101 million sharks are killed each year due to fishing activities, and about 70% of sharks living in the open ocean are severely threatened with extinction. Iris Ziegler, representing a German marine non-governmental organization, emphasizes that a global policy making it mandatory for sharks' fins to be naturally attached to their bodies when brought ashore must be urgently implemented to stop this inhumane and wasteful practice.