In late July, Mongabay revealed that 1,012 public tenders had been issued since 2004 to procure more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat worth at least 112 million reais ($20 million). Those tenders covered 542 municipalities in 10 of Brazil\u2019s 26 states. Shark meat can contain high levels of mercury and arsenic, which scientists say can be harmful to human health when consumed in large enough quantities; at the same time, overfishing can deplete populations of sharks, which are increasingly recognized as troubled keystone species critical to the marine environment.<\/p>\n
As shark meat is packaged and sold in Brazil under the generic name ca\u00e7\u00e3o, rather than as tubar\u00e3o, the Portuguese word for shark, Brazilians eating it tend not to know what kind of fish it is, surveys show. Such mislabeling can also allow the sale of threatened species as ca\u00e7\u00e3o, studies show.<\/p>\n
Conservationists say shark fins, considered a delicacy in Asian markets, are the main driver of shark overfishing \u2014 and the subsequent decline of 71% in the populations of some species in the open ocean over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n
Around the turn of the century, governments around the world took steps to ban shark finning, requiring boats to bring the whole shark to port if they wanted to trade the fins. However, some researchers believe the policies may have inadvertently propped up the trade in shark meat, which skyrocketed in the 2000s.<\/p>\n At the Sept. 3 CONAMA meeting, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (MPA) took a stand against the motion. \u201cWe are against it, precisely because there is already a norm regulating the capture of the only shark that is currently permitted to be caught,\u201d said Sandra de Souza, director of MPA\u2019s department of industrial, recreational, and sport fishing. She was referring to a joint ordinance issued by MPA and MMA in April that sets rules for managing, monitoring and enforcing blue shark catches, including quotas.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore ordinance No. 30, there was no such catch limit, and today, for the year 2025, just over 3,400 tons of blue shark can be caught,\u201d Souza said at the meeting. The ordinance also reduced from 19 to two the number of legal blue-shark fishing methods, she added, and established that catches can only be landed at ports that have a federal inspection system.<\/p>\n However, right after Souza made her statement, MMA\u2019s executive secretary, Jo\u00e3o Paulo Capobianco, announced the suspension of the joint ordinance, citing an MMA report pointing to \u201cthe risk of increased pressure on other endangered species of elasmobranch due to low selectivity of gear,\u201d and enforcement flaws, including \u201cinadequacy of the monitoring and control system [which is] based on self-declaration and with low observer coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe minister of fisheries already agreed that the ordinance was issued without the necessary precautions to ensure the protection of the species,\u201d Capobianco said at the CONAMA meeting. \u201cTherefore, the argument that there is ongoing regulation that would resolve these issues is no longer applicable.\u201d<\/p>\n Conservationists celebrated the measure, saying the suspension of the ordinance will put an end to targeted fishing of blue sharks; capture of the species will now only be allowed as bycatch, as it was prior the ordinance. Industry groups, however, say the measure will harm the Brazilian fishing industry, as imports of blue shark and other species will continue as usual.<\/p>\n Despite Capobianco\u2019s announcement, the ordinance hasn\u2019t been suspended yet. A new one is being drafted to replace it, but its contents remain to be seen. The ministries of environment and fisheries, MMA and MPA, didn\u2019t respond to Mongabay\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n Cadu Villa\u00e7a, head of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Collective (CONEPE), an industry trade group, told Mongabay by phone that he respects CONAMA\u2019s decision-making process, including for the approved motion, but disagrees with the motion itself.<\/p>\n Implementing CONAMA\u2019s recommendation to ban wire leaders would make surface longline fishing unviable, especially in southern Brazil, he said. He also criticized the recommended ban on shark fin exports, arguing that for fishers who capture an animal, selling the fins can \u201cadd a lot of value to the biomass you have killed.\u201d<\/p>\n Villa\u00e7a also said the meeting wasn\u2019t the appropriate place to announce the revocation of an ordinance that involves the fishing industry and MPA. \u201cI think it\u2019s a betrayal, a disloyalty, it is a feeling of great frustration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did not invite us, they did not open up the option for a representative entity from the fishing industry to participate,\u201d Villa\u00e7a said. \u201cThey are simply destroying an activity that has high employability, a good level of income distribution and food production.\u201d<\/p>\n Villa\u00e7a, an oceanographer, added that fishing poses no risks to the blue shark due to its high fertility rate. He published a statement on CONEPE\u2019s website criticizing the ordinance suspension.<\/p>\n Other industry groups \u2014 the Brazilian Association of Fish Industries (ABIPESCA), the Brazilian Association for the Promotion of Fish (ABRAPES) and the Union of Shipowners and Fishing Industries of Itaja\u00ed and Region (SINDIPI) \u2014 didn\u2019t reply to Mongabay\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n Beyond the latest developments, MMA said in a previous statement to Mongabay that it was reviewing a wide range of regulations for shark fishing, including updating the list of endangered species and reviewing an exemption that allows the import of species whose capture and ensuing sale are forbidden in Brazil.<\/p>\n Braulio Dias, director of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at MMA, said the Mongabay investigation spurred \u201cgreater awareness of the seriousness of the problem we are having with sharks\u201d and contributed to CONAMA\u2019s decisions and the ongoing revisions overall.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother important aspect that you have reported is the issue of increasing consumption of sharks in Brazil, including government purchases in several states to supply school meals, which is absurd, because a large part of these species are endangered,\u201d Dias told Mongabay by phone on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n Mongabay\u2019s findings are also being used by lawmaker Nilto Tatto, leader of the environmental caucus in Brazil\u2019s lower house of Congress, to call for a parliamentary hearing to discuss government purchases of shark meat for public institutions. In 2023, Tatto proposed a bill to ban federal purchases of shark meat, but it stalled in the lower house\u2019s Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. He told Mongabay he would send the investigation to all federal agencies involved in food procurements, requesting they cease any shark meat purchases.<\/p>\n Mongabay\u2019s expos\u00e9 was also cited as part of a class-action civil suit to ban federal public institutions from issuing tenders to purchase shark meat. In a hearing on Sept. 3, Nathalie Gil, director of conservation NGO Sea Shepherd Brasil, which originally filed the suit in December 2024, described Mongabay\u2019s revelations, including the database of municipal and state public procurement tenders, which is now recorded in the hearing transcript in the case file, she said.<\/p>\n At the hearing, key specialists described environmental, health and human rights problems they said are linked to shark meat consumption. Gill said she expects the judge to issue a decision on the case soon. She added that Sea Shepherd agreed to suspend the lawsuit if the federal government immediately stops public purchases of shark meat.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ideal is not to fish\u201d blue sharks, Gill said, adding she\u2019s hopeful the latest measures, including the suspension of the blue shark fishing ordinance, could lead to policies \u201cideal or close to ideal\u201d to ensure protection of the species. \u201cWhat we are really emphasizing here is: what measures will actually protect this animal?,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nBlue shark trade at stake<\/h2>\n
Mongabay investigation cited as evidence in lawsuit<\/h2>\n