Fish and chip shops found ‘serving endangered shark to unsuspecting customers’

Chippies are serving up endangered species of sharks wrongly labelled as other types of fish, according to a report.

Spiny dogfish and starry smooth-hound are said to be among the threatened creatures being served up at takeaways up and down the country, passed off as the likes of rock salmon.

The findings came from a DNA investigation carried out for the Daily Mirror, which found that many fish and chip shop owners were unaware of exactly what they were selling.

Scientists tested 15 battered samples bought from popular seaside towns including Bournemouth and Brighton, and found a number of examples of endangered shark using DNA techniques.

Ten examples of spiny dogfish and five of starry smooth-hound were found – both of which are endangered.

Spiny dogfish numbers have declined significantly over the years and the International Union for Conservation of Nature places them on its red list of threatened species.

They are classified as vulnerable globally and critically endangered in the northeast Atlantic, with stocks around Europe having plummeted – mostly as a result of over-fishing.

In the EU, the spiny dogfish shark is only allowed to be sold if they were caught by accidentally getting trapped in nets used to target other fish.

Starry smooth-hound is ranked as being of “least concern”, but its population has dropped in the Mediterranean.

The investigation carried out for the Mirror echoes research documented in the journal Scientific Reports, which was published earlier this year.

Scientists at the University Of Exeter found that most chip shop fish sold under names like flake and rock were in many cases the threatened spiny dogfish, while others were smooth-hounds, nurse-hounds and blue sharks.

That study analysed 78 samples from chippies and 39 from fishmongers, mostly in the South.

Study author Catherine Hobbs said: “It’s almost impossible for consumers to know what they are buying. People might think they’re getting a sustainable product when they’re actually buying a threatened species.

“There are also health issues. Knowing what species you are buying could be important in terms of allergies, toxins, mercury content and the growing concern over micro plastics in the marine food chain.”

Another Exeter scientist, Greg Wannell, carried out the Mirror investigation.

He was assisted by Matt Brierley, a researcher for the documentary series Blue Planet II, who blamed the issue on a law that allows various types of shark to be labelled under generic names.

Mr Brierley told the Mirror: “We have a broken system, a list of old regional names for sharks that today are so poorly understood traders and wholesalers don’t know what they are buying or selling. Defra must change this.”

In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs (Defra) said chippies could only sell shark if they were caught “legally and sustainably”, and said food labels should not be misleading “because people need complete trust in the food they are eating.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Fish and chip shops found ‘serving endangered shark to unsuspecting customers’