Shark and chips could be back on the menu

“This shark, swallow you whole” says Quint in Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975), but it could be people unknowingly swallowing sharks whole when they go to their local chippy.

Sharks often get a battering in the media, turns out they could be getting a different sort of battering, from your local chip shop in the UK as you could well be eating shark.

The Caterer website reported that changes came into effect on 1 April, meaning that commercial fishermen had now been given permission to catch north-east Atlantic spurdog in UK waters.

Their article went on to say that: “The species, also known as rock salmon or spiny dogfish, had been on the prohibited list in UK and EU waters for around five years, but was removed after the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advised that stock is recovering in the region.”

On 1 April, commercial fishermen were given permission to catch north-east Atlantic spurdog in UK waters.

It used to be said that today's news is tomorrow's chip paper, but what's in that chip paper may be a shark with your chips. And no matter the amount of salt and vinegar, that's got to leave a bad taste in your mouth when it comes to protecting the species.

Research in the past has shown it turns out that chip shop fish sold as huss, rock, flake and rock salmon turned out to be spiny dogfish.

Real life Matt Hooper, Kristian Parton, a marine biologist and shark scientist who runs Shark Bytes, expressed his concerns. He said: “It appears the quota for spurdog has been reopened by the government in recent weeks. Previously this shark had been overfished to the point where the species was deemed to be endangered in the north-East Atlantic.

“In the years since the ban on its capture, signs showed that this shark population was recovering. The TAC (total allowable catch) for the species has been set in line with guidance, although it is far too soon to know if these management measures will be effective in managing the stock for this shark moving forwards. I am not a shark fisheries specialist, but I do worry this fishery may have opened too soon for a species previously classed as endangered.

“Importantly here, it is imperative that the species is clearly labelled as a shark when being sold in fish and chip shops. Businesses have previously been in the news for disguising the names of shark species (perhaps to make them more appealing to customers), using pseudonyms such as huss, rock salmon and rock eel.

“Alongside this my research back in 2021, showed that this particular shark species (spurdog/spiny dogfish) had been ingesting microplastics in the north-east Atlantic, and I feel consumers should also be aware of this. I think these recent developments highlight the sorry state of affairs of the UK cod fishery, more than the apparent recovery of a previously endangered shark.”

In a world where over 100 million sharks are killed each year, no amount of salt and vinegar is going to get rid of that bad taste in your mouth if you are a fan of sharks and believe in their conservation.

It certainly gives food for thought, as when we think about the killing of sharks, we often think of shark fin soup, people eating protected great white sharks on social media, or them being finned in East Asia, not being legitimately caught close to home.

Sharks may get all the headlines when they eat people, but when it is humans doing the eating of sharks in our own backyard, then it doesn’t seem to make quite so many headlines.

Words by Dean Newman

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