The killing of sharks and illegal trade in their fins, cartilage and teeth is rampant on India’s southern coasts, led by Tamil Nadu, as well as Gujarat and Maharashtra, a factsheet released on Thursday by two environmental outfits says.

Nearly 16,000kg of shark fins were seized between January 2010 and December 2022 along with large volumes of shark cartilage and teeth, according to “Netted in illegal wildlife trade: Sharks of India”, released by Traffic, the global wildlife trade monitoring network, and WWF-India.

At least 60 per cent of the seized shark parts were meant for the international market, the report says, giving a breakdown: “Singapore (24 per cent), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (about 19 per cent), Sri Lanka (12 per cent), and mainland China (6.25 per cent)”. The destinations of the remaining 40 per cent remain unknown.

India’s government banned shark finning in the sea in 2013, and imposed a blanket ban on shark fin trade in the country in 2015. But most of the seizures happened in 2019, indicating poor implementation of the ban.

Experts said the confiscated shark parts would have fetched around Rs 15 crore in the international market.

“Tamil Nadu accounted for nearly 65 per cent of the shark seizure incidents, followed by other states such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, and Maharashtra,” the report says.

Shekhar Kumar Niraj, former country head of Traffic India and chief wildlife warden of Tamil Nadu, said on Friday: “The report is based only on data about the official seizures; the actual scale (of the trade) must be 6 to 8 times higher.”

Of the 17 seizures recorded during the period, 82 per cent involved shark fins weighing 15,839.5kg in total, along with 1,600kg cartilage and 2,445 teeth.

“Shark fins are the most sought-after shark product. They are used in making shark-fin soup, a delicacy,” said Merwyn Fernandes, associate director of Traffic’s India Office.

Experts said the shark’s meat is eaten; its skin is used as leather; its liver oil is used as a lubricant and in making cosmetics while also being a source of vitamin A; its cartilage is used in medicines and its jaws and teeth in making curios.

Dipankar Ghose, an expert with WWF-India, said: “The illegal shark trade is a serious conservation threat to sharks not just in India but globally.”

“Sharks are crucial to our ecosystem,” the report says. “Of (the) 160 shark species reported in India, only 26 sharks and rays have been given the highest protection status….”