The aroma of grilled fish and savory pancakes wafts through a crowded market in South Korea’s southeast, where vendors call out prices and customers weave through the narrow aisles. Amid the mackerel and octopus lie slabs of dombaegi — shark meat.

In the coastal Gyeongsang Province, dombaegi remains a beloved regional delicacy as families across South Korea prepare for chuseok, the country’s mid-autumn harvest festival. During this time, families gather to honor their ancestors with special foods and rituals. 

But the cultural significance of dombaegi now clashes with a troubling reality: the global decline of shark populations.

Last week, Korea Pro uncovered the sale of several endangered shark species at the Jukdo market in Pohang, a port city where the delicacy holds particular popularity. This discovery exposes the tension between preserving cultural heritage and protecting marine ecosystems. But it also hints at a potentially thriving black market for shark meat.

TRADITION VS CONSERVATION

South Korea’s shark meat tradition stretches back centuries. Archaeological findings suggest the practice dates to the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BCE to 668 CE). Some families believe offering dombaegi during ancestral rites (charye) brings powerful blessings to future generations.

But the culinary tradition now faces a global ecological crisis. “Sharks are under threat like never before,” Brendon Sing, director of Shark Guardian, a shark conservation charity, told Korea Pro. Sing noted that 37% of shark species are on the brink of extinction.

In South Korea, however, shark conservation laws lag behind the crisis. Doohyun Park of the nonprofit Ocean Outcomes told Korea Pro that out of 49 shark species observed in ROK waters, “57% of them have international conservation status.”

Yet, the country’s Fisheries Resources Management Act protects only two of the dozens of shark species the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists as endangered: the scalloped hammerhead and the whale shark. Enforcement of even these limited protections appears lax.

In contrast, the U.S. government prohibits fishermen from possessing or retaining in “any form” twenty shark species, including the dusky shark — a species Korea Pro likely observed for sale at Jukdo market last week.

At one shop at the Jukdo market, six large sharks lay piled on an outdoor platform. The vendor skilfully dissected their carcasses with a handsaw, later cutting the pieces into neat, rectangular chunks of pink meat. 

“These sharks belong to the genus Carcharhinus,” Keiichi Sato, director general of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, one of the world’s largest aquariums, told Korea Pro after examining photos of the animals. 

“Although it is not possible to identify them accurately from the photos, they appear to be large species, such as Carcharhinus obscurus, or dusky shark.”

The IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species classifies most Carcharhinus subspecies, including dusky sharks, as endangered.

Sato noted that international trade of Carcharhinus is restricted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, to which South Korea is a party. But within its own economic zone, however, South Korea continues to permit the catching and selling of these sharks.

A vendor skins a shark, which one expert identified as a threatened Carcharhinus species, at Jukdo market in Pohang, Sept. 2024 | Image: Korea Pro

LAX ENFORCEMENT AND OVERSIGHT

But even sharks that South Korea classifies as protected were on sale at Jukdo market last week. Sing of Shark Guardian identified one of the sharks that Korea Pro saw as a scalloped hammerhead shark — one of two species that Seoul’s fisheries law has designated as protected.

Sharks that are prohibited from being caught may only be sold if they have been deemed as accidental bycatch by authorities, Park of Ocean Outcomes explained. But the hammerhead sharks on sale at Jukdo market appear not to have been on the radar of authorities at all.

Korea Pro asked the Jukdo market about the sale of illegal and endangered sharks. In response, the market referred to Pohang’s Fisheries Cooperative, which handles the auction of “all the fish at our market,” an employee said.

However, the Fisheries Cooperative denied auctioning any hammerhead sharks recently and couldn’t explain their presence in the market.

“We’ve only seen blue sharks come in lately,” a sales department representative told Korea Pro. The cooperative claimed it doesn’t handle endangered species and discourages fishermen from bringing them in. Notably, they seemed unaware that blue sharks are also endangered.

The Fisheries Cooperative manages South Korean fishing ports, conducts official seafood auctions and bears responsibility for monitoring illegal catches. The dissonance between official oversight and market realities suggests sharks may be entering markets through unofficial channels, pointing to the existence of a black market.

This unofficial trade in threatened sharks has another consequence: it distorts catch statistics. While official South Korean government data reports that fishermen hauled in 209 tons of sharks in 2023, this figure excludes those caught in international water catches or those traded through unofficial channels.

A vendor dissects a shark, which one expert identified as a threatened Carcharhinus species, at Jukdo market in Pohang, Sept. 2024 | Image: Korea Pro

GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS

The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has vouched to implement measures to protect marine biodiversity by expanding the list of protected species. However, experts say that sharks face a race against time.

South Korea’s lax laws and weak enforcement create ripple effects far beyond its borders, they warn.

Shark Guardian, an action group, emphasizes sharks’ critical role in maintaining marine ecosystems. As apex predators, sharks regulate populations of other species in the food chain, and their population decline threatens to destabilize entire ecosystems, from coral reefs to fisheries.

“Urgent action is needed to protect these incredible animals,” Sing of Shark Guardian told Korea Pro, highlighting their vital role in maintaining ocean health.

Leonardo Guida, a shark scientist and conservation lead at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, provided stark context: “Industrialized fishing has driven a 70% decline in oceanic shark species in just the last 50 years.”

“Threatened species do not recognize international borders, so it’s incredibly important countries work together and help rebuild their populations.”

Improved protection for sharks in South Korea is especially urgent. “Warmer ocean temperature due to climate change is driving many shark species into new waters, such as those of South Korea,” expert Park said.

“Sharks can be sustainably managed if science-based management measures are in place, but Korea is not there yet. More can be done at the national levels to improve shark sustainability like precautionary measures to minimize shark bycatch and improve shark post-release survival rate.”

But for now, tradition continues to overshadow ecological concerns in South Korea’s Jukdo market.

“In Pohang, most people eat it grilled,” a vendor told Korea Pro. “It’s delicious.”

Joon Ha Park Contributed reporting to this article. Edited by John Lee

A vendor filleting mackerel at Jukdo market in Pohang, Sept. 2024 | Image: Korea Pro