Black in Marine Science and The Nature Conservancy team up to give a group of students a week of scuba diving, marine science lessons and cultural experiences in St. Croix.

The scalloped hammerhead Sphyrna lewini and the great hammerhead S. mokarran are typically caught as bycatch in a variety of fisheries and are listed as globally Endangered by the International Uni...

Overfishing and unsustainable practices have caused drastic declines in shark populations worldwide; these decreases are largely attributed to the demand for shark products (e.g., fins and meat) and shark bycatch associated with the global fishing industry. In an effort to understand the species composition of the shark fin trade in Singapore – a globally significant trade hub, we collected and genetically identify a total of 6840 shark fins collected between January 2021 and February 2022. We then adopted a Bayesian modelling approach to understand how the identified species contributed to the overall trade within Singapore. The Singapore market appears distinct in terms of species composition when compared to the markets of Hong Kong and mainland China. In Singapore 81% of samples belonged to ten species, whereas, in Hong Kong and mainland China a single species dominated the trade. Of those identified in Singapore, the IUCN considers six to be threatened species and eight are listed in CITES Appendix II (in online). The differences in species composition between East and Southeast Asian markets suggest that different supply chains are sustaining these hubs. Given these differences, it is important that conservation, sustainable fisheries management and policy decisions are based upon the findings from multiple trade centres.

Research from the World's Oceans