Photo credit:: Patricia Martin Cabrera (United Arab Emirates)
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The inserted picture was taken in Deira fish market, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Even though there is some demand for fresh and dried shark meat, shark-fishing is driven by the lucrative trade of dried shark fins which are used to make shark-fin soup in China, Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East.
Dubai has gained significant attention as a link in the global trade in sharks which are caught in several countries in the region and shipped to Dubai for finning as well as for better prices. According to FAO, Dubai is one of the main Middle East exporters of shark fins whereas around 400-500 tons of shark fins were annually exported especially to Hong Kong from 1998 to 2000. Typically, Shark auction occurs every day in the Deira fish market in Dubai. Some reports consider the shark fins caught regionally and exported from the UAE ranks fifth in the world.
In line with the above, it worth mentioning that in the UAE, shark finning and shark hunting between January to April has been banned in 2008. Moreover, UAE law prohibits the fishing of any species listed on the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) including the whale shark and three species of hammerhead sharks common in UAE water.
While the trade in whole sharks is legal, the on-boat finning of live sharks was banned by the Ministry of Environment and Water in UAE in 2008.
As expected and because of the significant global value of shark-fin trade as annually ranges from at least US$540 million, and possibly as high as US$1.2 billion, fishermen in the region may continue hunting sharks in a violation to the national regulations issued by almost all Middle East countries.
