Shark Meat in U.S. Shops Could Be From Endangered Species, Examine Finds

In case you spot shark on a menu or grocery retailer cabinets in the US, the percentages are excessive that it comes from a critically endangered species. 

In September of 2025, researchers from the College of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill revealed the findings of their analysis within the interdisciplinary journal Frontiers in Marine Science, analyzing what, precisely, Individuals are consuming once they buy shark meat. However earlier than diving into their learnings, it is essential to know the laws on shark consumption in America.

Some shark meat is authorized to eat within the U.S. Nevertheless, because the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) fisheries division explains on its web site, the sale of all shark fins is illegitimate. “The legislation prohibits any particular person underneath U.S. jurisdiction from participating within the finning of sharks, possessing shark fins aboard a fishing vessel with out the corresponding carcass, and touchdown shark fins with out the corresponding carcass,” the administration outlines on its web site.

There are additionally many particular legal guidelines round which sharks may be fished, offered, and consumed within the U.S. The NOAA individually maintains a listing of prohibited species that have to be launched if unintentionally caught, together with white, sand tiger, shortfin mako, and basking sharks, to call just some. 

The fishing of hammerhead sharks is regulated by the NOAA and strictly prohibited in some waters, however as researchers from UNC Chapel Hill discovered, the species is in some way nonetheless displaying up in grocery shops. 

“We discovered critically endangered sharks, together with nice hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead, being offered in grocery shops, seafood markets, and on-line,” Dr. Savannah J. Ryburn, a researcher on the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and corresponding writer, shared in an announcement to Frontiers.

In complete, the group bought and DNA barcoded 29 shark meat samples from shops throughout North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, and on-line distributors. The samples included 19 uncooked shark steaks and 11 packages of shark jerky. The researchers discovered that of the 29 samples, 93% had been “ambiguously labeled as ‘shark,’ and one of many two merchandise labeled on the species degree was mislabeled,” Ryburn outlined. 

The mislabeled merchandise included one offered as blacktip shark — which the researchers famous is presently labeled as a susceptible species by the Worldwide Union for the Conservation of Nature — though it really contained meat from the endangered shortfin mako. Only one pattern, additionally labeled as blacktip shark, clearly and accurately recognized the meat it contained.

“It was actually stunning to see the whole lot so generically labeled as a result of there are tons of of species of sharks, they usually range enormously with their habitats, dimension, eating regimen, and the whole lot about them,” Savannah Ryburn, a latest doctoral graduate and lead writer of the research, stated in a assertion. 

“It was stunning to see critically endangered species not solely being generically labeled but additionally being offered tremendous cheaply. A few of the scalloped hammerhead samples had been $2.99 a pound — and that is an apex predator that’s critically endangered,” Ryburn detailed. The authors revealed that different samples had been offered at “remarkably” low costs too, starting from $6.56 to $11.99 per kilogram for contemporary shark meat. 

Nevertheless, because the lead writer famous, grocery shops and markets possible aren’t guilty for these points. “The legality of promoting shark meat in the US relies upon largely on the place the shark was harvested and the species concerned, on account of laws underneath CITES and the Endangered Species Act,” Ryburn defined. “Nevertheless, by the point giant shark species attain grocery shops and markets, they’re usually offered as fillets with all distinguishing options eliminated, making it unlikely that sellers know what species they’re providing.”

If the concept of consuming endangered animals would not cease you from pushing for larger transparency within the meals system, maybe the researcher’s different findings will.

In keeping with the group, three of the species that they discovered within the samples — the scalloped hammerhead, the nice hammerhead, and the dusky smooth-hound shark — might comprise excessive ranges of mercury and methylmercury, which might injury the human mind and nervous system. They could even have arsenic, which is a recognized carcinogen. 

One technique to curb the difficulty, the authors famous, is to place extra onus on the vendor. “Sellers in the US must be required to supply species-specific names, and when shark meat just isn’t a meals safety necessity, customers ought to keep away from buying merchandise that lack species-level labeling or traceable sourcing,” Ryburn emphasised.