A new TNS Demoscopia poll, commissioned by the Shark Alliance, has revealed that people in Spain are unwittingly eating shark meat.
Although 96% of those polled said that they did not eat shark, 76.4% were not aware that "cazón" and "marrajo" come from sharks and nearly 33% said that they consumed these products. The results were released in conjunction with a new report from SUBMON, titled 'Spain: A driving force in shark fishing around the world', that documents serious fishery problems including mislabelling sharks at market.
In a similar poll undertaken by TNS last year, 95% of the Spanish people questioned supported measures to protect endangered shark species and limits on shark catches to keep fisheries sustainable.
"Sharks are vulnerable animals at serious risk and the people of Spain do not want to be part of eating them into oblivion," said Sandrine Polti, Policy Advisor for the Shark Alliance.
"Spanish fishermen catch more sharks than those from any other European country while the Spanish government is increasingly out of touch with its citizens' views on protecting shark populations," Ms Polti continued.
A recent report published by Shark Alliance member SUBMON found that the mislabelling and renaming of shark products within Spain is widespread and likely responsible for the discrepancy between people expressing the desire to abstain from shark meat and yet consuming it under other guises.
Àlex Bartolí, Shark Project Manager for SUBMON and author of the report said, "Accurate labelling is essential to allow people to make informed choices about seafood. It is also crucial if we are to understand the true scale of shark catches, marketing and consumption in order to craft measures for reversing population decline and ensuring sustainable fisheries."
Aside from EU-wide rules, Spain has practically no management and control measures for its vast shark fisheries and fails to protect domestically any species of shark, even those threatened with extinction.
The new EU Plan of Action for Sharks, released by the European Commission in February 2009, provides a roadmap for Spain to curb the excesses of its shark fishing fleet and, in doing so, move more in step with the wishes of its own population which supports protecting sharks from over-exploitation.
