Limited support for Global North-Global South inequality in regulating international trade in scalloped hammerhead sharks

The scalloped hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna lewini ) is a Critically Endangered species with a circumglobal distribution that has declined because of unsustainable trade in its fins. Since 2014 its international trade is regulated through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Recently, a Global North-South inequality in the species’ protection was postulated, with a purported significant South to North trade, and the USA being both the most significant importer and exporter. We argue that this was due to misunderstanding of what comprises a ‘transaction’ and using CITES records we show that over 8 years the top eight exporters of scalloped hammerhead shark fins are countries in the Global South (reporting an export of 159 tonnes) as is the main importer, Hong Kong (exporters report 119 tonnes). There is a very limited role for countries in the Global North in this trade. Prior to the CITES listing, trade in scalloped hammerhead shark was already regulated through various international agreements (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas), in which countries from the Global North and South partake, and the amendments to the CITES appendices for increased regulation of scalloped hammerhead sharks were put forward by countries representing the North and South. Rather than posing the Global North uses CITES as a way to pressure the Global South, it is paramount that there is an effective implementation of the regulation of international trade in scalloped hammerhead sharks. A failure to do so may lead to a situation where populations are so low that regulation is no longer an option.