I’ve seen shark meat or other shark products for sale. What can I do?

Seeing a shark for sale can often be a very emotive experience. But bear in mind it's not always illegal to display and sell shark products. TACs and quotas are in place for some species to limit catch levels while others have no management whatsoever and can be caught in unlimited numbers. Although it's still legal to sell many of these species, it's not sustainable to catch and sell unmanaged species. This forms the basis of the No Limits? Campaign.

In the UK, Basking Sharks, Angelsharks, White Skate, the Common Skate complex and Porbeagle are all Prohibited Species under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). But there are some exceptions. International trade of products from species that are listed on CITES Appendix I is forbidden and on Appendix II is restricted.

If you see a shark product for sale and feel comfortable doing so, politely speak with the staff and find out if they have information on the provenance. If it’s meat for sale they should know the species and sea area it was caught from. If it’s a curios item then they should know where was it sourced. By choosing not to buy the product and explaining why, you reinforce the message to retailers that there’s no market for vulnerable species.

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