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Good news for conservationists: Europe’s shark fin trade is declining.
Export volumes from the EU dropped by 15% from 2024 to 2025, according to the latest data from Eurostat.
Yet numbers remain significant. Last year, member states sold nearly 3,000 tonnes of shark fins outside the bloc, worth around €45 billion.
Blue sharks represent the overwhelming majority (97%) of sharks hunted for their fins and sold frozen by EU countries. The rest are shortfin mako sharks.
The significant decline in exports follows the tightening of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which increased inspections and traceability requirements for producers.
The convention also expanded the list of protected species to 60 more shark species, but not blue sharks.
Spain is by far Europe’s largest exporter, according to a study conducted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) between 2003 and 2020.
According to the study, during this period, Spain exported at least 52,000 tonnes of shark fins outside the EU.
Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Italy are the other main EU exporters, though in much smaller volumes.
The vast majority goes to Singapore and mainland China, both buying around 40% of the total, and the rest to Japan (2.5%), Hong Kong (13%) and Vietnam (1%).
The EU bloc also imports shark fins, though in much smaller amounts: around 20 tonnes, worth €0.3 million.
The trade remains highly controversial because of its ecological damage, as sharks are apex predators that play a crucial role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems.
It’s also contentious because it often involves the cruel practice of slicing off the shark’s fin while the animal is still alive, before dumping the body into the sea, leaving it to bleed to death.
The body is typically discarded due to its lower commercial value, while the fin can instead be used for soups.
This practice is already illegal in the EU.
Under the EU’s “Fins Naturally Attached” policy, sharks must be brought to shore with their fins fully attached.
The EU is also assessing whether it should ban imports of detached shark fins.
