A petition on the UK Government’s website is raising signatures for the law to be changed to prevent shark species – some of them endangered – from being sold under misleading names.
Under the current legislation, the UK’s Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) allows a number of species of shark to be named for commercial purposes as flake, huss, rigg, rock eel and – perhaps the most commonly recognised – rock salmon.
As listed on the Defra website, the species sold under these names include: all species of Galeorhinus (houndsharks), all species of Mustelus (catsharks), all species of Scyliorhinus (also catsharks), Galeus melastomus (blackmouth catshark) and Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish)
While many of the included species are not currently listed as threatened, some, such as the spiny dogfish are listed on the IUCN Red List as ‘Endandered’ in Europe and the school shark (Galeorhinus galeus, also known as tope), is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ globally.
The alternative names seemingly stem from either traditional names for the fish, or as a name to make the fish sound more palatable than their common names. The name ‘rock salmon’, for example, may have arisen during the so-called ‘Cod Wars’, a dispute between UK and Icelandic fishers during the 1960s and ’70s which drove the price of cod – traditionally the mainstay of the British staple fish ‘n’ chips – so high that cheaper alternatives were used. Food vendors found that people were more likely to eat the more elegant-sounding ‘rock salmon’ than the rather unappetising ‘dog fish’.
A 2019 study by the University of Exeter using DNA samples taken from chip shops around the south of the UK found that endangered species of hammerhead had also been included under the rock salmon label. Although the UK has since banned the trade in shark fins and the CITES convention has added hammerheads to its list of protected species, the report nevertheless highlights how consumers can be left in the dark as to exactly what they are consuming under the generic names under which shark meat is sold.
The petition asks that shark be sold under common names to enable consumers to make ethical choices, but so far has very little support. The deadline is 4 March 2023, and 10,000 signatures are required in order for the UK governmnet to respond.
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