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Stop shark being sold under misleading names in the UK

Submitted by Matthew Brierley on Thursday 4th August 2022

Published on Thursday 18th August 2022

Current status: Closed

Closed: Saturday 4th March 2023

Signatures: 11,794

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

Atlantic ~ Defra ~ Enable ~ fish ~ list ~ RARE ~ Red list ~ Shark ~ Stock

Petition Action

Stop shark being sold under misleading names in the UK

Petition Details

Defra's Commercial Designations of Fish allows 46 shark species to be sold under 6 generic names in UK chippies and fishmongers (e.g. Rock Salmon). These include Critically Endangered sharks. We ask that shark must instead be sold under common names to enable consumers to make ethical choices.

Additional Information

Sharks are critical to oceans.

46 (often rare) sharks can be sold as Rock Salmon, Rock Eel, Dogfish, Flake, Huss or Rigg. 94 DNA samples showed an 86% chance of eating Spiny Dogfish in a chippy when ordering fish listed under these names.

The IUCN Red List assessment found that Spiny Dogfish stock in the NE Atlantic was Critically Endangered, and Vulnerable to Extinction globally.

Tope - Critically Endangered globally - is sold under these names too. For comparison, orangutans and gorillas are also Critically Endangered.


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