Shark fin trade swims on, despite ban
Pungent piles of dried fish meat fill tiny shops on the ground floor of Phnom Penh’s Phsar O’Russei as the latest catch flops in metal basins. Hanging from some stalls are bags of half-meter long, leathery, dried shark fins—destined for expensive bowls of a soup prized for its taste and texture. As a signatory to an international treaty to protect endangered species, Cambodia has made the sale of shark fins completely illegal. In practice, however, fins are sold openly and without repercussions from authorities. At the latest meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in Johannesburg last week, trade restrictions were adopted on four more species of sharks often traded for their fins: three species of silky sharks, and the thresher shark. Eight others were previously restricted. The CITES restrictions come as the global shark population flickers closer to extinction.
