Transnational shark trade: personal baggage and postal seizures in Australia and New Zealand

Josephine Lingard; Patrick Reis-Santos; Phillip Cassey; Bronwyn M. Gillanders

doi:10.1071/PC25006

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 31(4)

Transnational shark trade: personal baggage and postal seizures in Australia and New Zealand

Josephine Lingard

^A ^* , Patrick Reis-Santos

^A , Phillip Cassey

^B and Bronwyn M. Gillanders ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

^B Wildlife Crime Research Hub, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: josephine.lingard@adelaide.edu.au

Handling Editor: Karissa Lear

Pacific Conservation Biology 31, PC25006 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25006

Submitted: 30 January 2025 Accepted: 5 June 2025 Published: 30 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Sharks (Chondrichthyes) are declining globally with over one third of species threatened with extinction, largely due to anthropogenic threats including overfishing driven by the international trade of products such as fin and meat.

Aims

We used border seizure data from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand (from passenger flights and unaccompanied mail) to investigate where shark products originated from and whether there were country-specific differences in the products traded through time.

Methods

Seizure data were collated from biosecurity and government agencies to investigate the contribution of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand to global shark trade.

Key results

In Australia, shark products were more likely to originate from Asia and the total number of seized products decreased over time. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia was the top originating country. Both countries showed clear reductions in seizures in 2020–2021 when border closures were enforced due to COVID-19. Trophy items, such as preserved specimens, were more likely to originate from the USA while fin products originated from Hong Kong and China. Less than 1% of seizures from both countries contained species-specific information, with 14 of the 18 species seized listed on CITES Appendix II.

Conclusions

International trade of shark products for personal use in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand was evident, with Australia a potential source and gateway for these products, raising concerns around the trade of endangered species.

Implications

Improving recorded species information is essential to enhance monitoring and support regulations on the trade of sharks and endangered species.

Keywords: Australia, biosecurity seizures, chondrichthyan, conservation, elasmobranchs, fins, New Zealand, wildlife trade.

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