Cruel, wasteful': Dakar port a hotspot for illegal shark fins

Dakar has emerged as a hotspot for illegal shark finning, according to a report released Thursday by the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). The practice described involves Chinese longline tuna vessels cutting fins from live sharks and then throwing the animals back to suffocate and drown, with the fins later shipped to Asia for products such as shark fin soup. Even where shark fishing is generally permitted, finning—removing fins and discarding the rest, often alive—is largely prohibited under multiple regulatory regimes and international conventions. EJF said the study focused on Chinese and Taiwanese distant-water longline fleets authorized to fish in the Atlantic, noting that 71 of 130 vessels visited Dakar between 2020 and 2025. From fisher testimony gathered between 2020 and 2025, 41 vessels participated in finning, and 24 reported landing fins in Dakar. Senegal is part of ICCAT, which bans retention of certain shark species and limits fin weight to no more than 5% of onboard shark weight. The report also discusses broader links to IUU fishing and human rights abuses.