Sharks are predators that play an important role in maintaining the balance of the marine ecosystem and the food webs within it. Unfortunately, sharks are still captured and traded in the market, even though an increasing number of shark and ray species are now listed on the CITES appendix since CoP 19 in November 2022. To trace the shark meat trade, Fisheries Resource Center of Indonesia (FRCI) presented a shark meat research plan to the Directorate of Marine Biodiversity and Conservation of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (DMBC-MMAF) on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at the MMAF’s Mina Bahari III Building, Jakarta.

This hearing was opened by Sarmintohadi, S.Pi., M.Sc. as the Coordinator of the Area and Fish Species Utilization Group of the DMBC and Dr. Irfan Yulianto from FRCI. The agenda was followed by a presentation by Dr. rer. nat. Asadatun Abdullah titled “Uncovering The Shark Meat Trade and Application of DNA-based Method for Traceability”.

The expected outputs of this research are a full report on the shark meat trade, high-impact scientific publications, and considerations for the proposed species for CITES. Through this hearing, FRCI hopes that there will be support and synergy between this research and the MMAF's needs as the CITES Management Authority in Indonesia.