This article was published on 23 July 2026 and updated on 21 October 2026.
Update of 21 October 2026
Costa Rica’s trade in silky shark products has been selected for a CITES Review of Significant Trade. According to Mongabay, citing the CITES Secretariat, the secretariat planned to notify Costa Rica formally and request evidence that exports are not detrimental to the species’ survival. Costa Rica would have 60 days to respond. Selection for review does not itself establish that the trade is unsustainable.
The CITES Animals Committee is expected to assess the evidence in June 2027. If it questions sustainability, it can recommend conservation and management measures. An international trade suspension would be a later possibility if such measures were not implemented; none has been decided.
This is separate from the domestic court case. A provisional ban on exports of silky and thresher sharks ordered in September 2025 was lifted in October 2025, according to minutes of the fisheries agency INCOPESCA. The materials reviewed here do not establish whether the courts issued any later rulings.
Costa Rica was by far the largest reported exporter of silky shark products between 2020 and 2024. After one of CREMA published evaluation The Central American country accounted for 81.8 percent of global direct gross exports.
The underlying trade data comes from the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species database CITES. The years 2020 to 2024 were evaluated. They followed at a considerable distance Sri Lanka with 7.9 percent and Indonesia with 2.6 percent.
What the number of 81.8 percent means
The percentage indicates direct gross exports of various silky shark products, not 81.8 percent of all silky sharks caught worldwide. The quantities of the exporting and importing countries were compared. If both sides differed from each other, the higher value was included in the evaluation. Re-exports were not taken into account.
The global balance recorded 2,335.4 tons of meat and around 1,020.5 tons of fins. There were also products reported as bodies. However, the report does not break down which specific tonnage within these product groups is attributable to Costa Rica. In addition, the information for 2024 was still incomplete: at the time of the analysis, only 67 percent of the annual reports were available.
Silky sharks may only be traded in a controlled manner
In the assessment used, the silky shark is listed as endangered and with a declining population trend. Since 2016, the species has been listed in Appendix II of CITES. International trade is not fundamentally prohibited, but requires permits and must not endanger the continued existence of the species in the wild.
To do this, the responsible scientific authority must prepare a so-called safety report before export. This non-detriment finding is intended to scientifically prove that the approved removal is sustainable. It is precisely on this basis that criticism is now being sparked.
Nature conservation organizations demand international review
CREMA and Marine Watch International consider the export quantities and the conditions of their authorization to be grounds for review by CITES. Randall Arauz of Marine Watch International points to increasing export rates, differences between landing and export dates and a high proportion of immature animals in the catches.
A possible consequence would be a so-called review of significant trading. In this process, CITES can examine whether a country meets the requirements for Appendix II species. In the most extreme case, international trade could be suspended until Costa Rica provides reliable evidence that the removal does not endanger the population.
Authority considers exports to be sustainable
The Costa Rican fisheries authority Incopesca, on the other hand, takes the position that the exports are sustainable and meet the conditions of the existing safety report. CREMA also questions whether the permits are compatible with national wildlife protection law.
This is not just about the ranking of exporting countries. The case touches on the fundamental question of how reliably trade quotas for an endangered, slow-growing shark species can be justified and whether catch, landing and export data match up seamlessly.
Transparency determines the significance
How Delfino.cr in its classification As highlighted, the percentage value alone does not allow calculating the tonnage exported by Costa Rica. For a technical assessment, the complete data sets, the conversions used and the scientific justification of the export quotas are crucial.
The exceptionally high concentration on a single export country makes such an examination particularly relevant. It must clarify whether the reported quantities are compatible with the protection requirements of CITES and the biological limits of silky shark populations.
