Jacquet points out that under the Endangered Species Act, endangered marine fish such as sharks do not have the same protections as endangered freshwater fish, terrestrial and marine mammals. Bridging this gap would help make the sale of endangered sharks illegal.
“We have done a good job protecting marine mammals in the United States. We have not done well by marine fishes,” Jacquet says. “It’s high time we sort of look that issue in the face, and this study is a great contribution to encouraging that conversation.”
And the issue is not confined to the U.S. For example, in Australia, a study published in in 2023 found that threatened shark species were being sold under the generic term ‘flake’ in fish and chips shops.
“The rates of mislabeling of shark products and other seafood vary significantly worldwide, and have been reported in South Africa, Brazil, the European Union, the UK, Canada, and China” among others, says Ashleigh Sharrad, a research assistant at the University of Adelaide and author of the 2023 study.
For the U.S., Ryburn offers one possible solution: “sellers in the U.S. should be required to have species-specific labeling on their shark meat.”