Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major threat to the sustainability of seafood resources in the world's oceans. Shark fin is known as a luxury food ingredient around the world, best known for its use in shark fin soup. Unfortunately, a practice known as shark finning, –in which a shark is captured, only its fins are removed and the finless shark is thrown back into the ocean alive–prevails. It is prohibited in many countries and regions due to its cruelty and for the protection of endangered shark species. Shark finning is a typical example of IUU fishing.

On June 19, 2024, the Fisheries Agency and the Ocean Affairs Council of Taiwan conducted a joint inspection of the fishing vessel Jin Maan Fa No. 66 at Nanfang’ao Fishing Port, Taiwan. 6.5 tons of blue shark fins, sourced from 2,000-3,000 sharks, were discovered. (See photo.) The sharks were likely thrown into the ocean after their fins were cut off, to save space on the vessel.
All of this may have taken place within Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or within the convention area of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) on the high seas.

Shark finning is banned by international organizations and governments such as WCPFC and the European Union (EU). Japan sets out the National Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks*¹ and under ministerial ordinances, fishery operators are obliged to retain all body parts of caught sharks on board the vessel until landing. Since 2011, Taiwan also has a zero-shark-finning policy, requiring that all sharks must be landed at ports with their fins attached.
Despite these regulations, shark finning continues in Taiwan. When Jhin Maan Fa No. 66 violated shark finning regulations in 2021, cutting fins off from 13 tons of sharks and illegally discarding the rest of their bodies, the vessel operator was fined 5 million New Taiwan dollars and had its fishing license suspended for 16 months. However, in 2024, merely three years later, the same vessel was found to be engaged in shark finning again.
Behind repeated illegal activities lies the leniency of the law. Under Taiwan's current legal framework, a permanent revocation of a fishing license is possible only when the same vessel commits three violations in total or two violations in one year. In other words, unless a certain number of violations are committed, it is difficult to permanently revoke a fishing license, leaving open the possibility of the same operators repeating illegal activities. Needless to say, Taiwanese authorities need to tighten existing regulations.

IUU fishing, including shark finning, can be fundamentally attributed to market demand. As such, in addition to efforts by government authorities of producing states to manage their fishery resources and fisheries, there is an accelerating trend among governmental authorities of market states to strengthen import controls to prevent seafood products sourced by IUU fishing from entering markets. This is especially the case in the three top global seafood market states: the EU, the United States (US) and Japan.
According to an investigation by the Taiwanese NGO, the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), around half of the global shark fin trade occurs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and Japan is not a key shark fin market state. Yet still, the damage Japan suffers from Taiwan's shark finning is by no means insignificant. The connecting factor is tuna.
As sharks are mostly caught by tuna fishing vessels such as distant-water longliners, shark finning often takes place on these vessels. Meanwhile, the majority of tuna consumed in Japan is imported from Taiwan. This means that through tuna procurement, Japanese tuna buyers are often at risk of unknowingly becoming involved with shark finning, which is IUU fishing.
Shark finning by Taiwanese operators also impacts upstream tuna distribution. The fact that shark finning is being conducted by tuna fishing vessels in the waters that they operate in significantly hinders Japanese tuna fisheries from obtaining MSC certifications and from entering European and US seafood markets. This casts a shadow on the future of Japan's fishery industry, which views overseas market development as a top priority, given the shrinking domestic market.
The elimination of IUU fishing is a global target under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Multiple Japanese prime ministers to date have announced their commitments to this cause on international stages like the G7 and G20 summits. Many Japanese retailers and restaurant chains, along with seafood processing and trading companies supplying them with seafood products, have announced their commitments to eliminate any involvement with IUU fishing from their own supply chains as well. Furthermore, mega banks and regional banks investing in the fishery industry have begun identifying IUU fishing as an investment risk alongside overfishing and human rights violations, establishing policies to suspend investments for businesses that do not address these issues. The world is closely watching what fundamental steps Japan, as a major global tuna consumer, will take to fulfill its responsibility.

The Act on Ensuring the Proper Domestic Distribution and Importation of Specified Aquatic Animals and Plants has been in effect for over two years now, aiming to prevent seafood sourced by IUU fishing species from entering the Japanese market. Under this law, species that fall in the category of Class II Specified Aquatic Animals and Plants are subject to import control. On October 21, 2024, the Fisheries Agency of Japan indicated its intention to start considering the addition of the blue shark and the shortfin mako shark to Class II. This is an outcome of the discussions that took place during the meetings of the Council for Promotion of Proper Distribution of Fisheries Products^*2. The author was a member of this council and participated in all three council meetings that were held in Tokyo in the autumn of the same year. The blue shark and the shortfin mako shark were unable to be immediately added to Class II due to an administrative bottleneck: existing Japanese tariff codes do not distinguish between different shark species and there is no statistical data on import volume by each species to date. This issue needs to be resolved urgently through coordination and cooperation among multiple government agencies.
Needless to say, IUU fishing is a huge issue and shark finning represents merely the tip of the iceberg. The EU seafood import control scheme covers all wild-caught marine species, while the US scheme covers 13 species, which account for nearly half of all US seafood imports. These are both based on future-oriented planning, aiming to protect stakeholders by preventing potential risks before they cause damage. As Japan is a key entry point to the global seafood supply chain, there are great expectations for the Japanese government to significantly expand species coverage by its import control scheme as a measure against IUU fishing, as well as to exert global leadership in the global fight to eliminate fIUU fishing. On September 30, 2024, a group of 14 companies and organizations, mainly consisting of major Japanese seafood companies, submitted a joint statement to the Japanese government^*3 to request for technological development and global collaboration needed for the elimination of IUU fishing. There is great interest in how the Japanese government will respond to this.

*1 https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/koho/bunyabetsu/pdf/samerui_keikaku160315_a.pdf
*2 https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/kakou/240924.html
*3 https://iuuwatch.jp/news/joint_statement_20241001