WildTrace The open atlas of illegal wildlife trade

Sharks, rays & sea cucumbers in the illegal wildlife trade

WildTrace has recorded 58 cases involving sharks, rays & sea cucumbers from public reports between 2024-01-15 and 2026-09-23, in 14 countries. 3 of them rest on an official or validated source.

CITES appendix II. Taxa covered: Selachimorpha, Batoidea, Holothuroidea, Hippocampus spp.. Counts show where this trade is reported, not where it happens: reporting is uneven between countries and languages, and cases whose reports name no place are counted but cannot be mapped.

Where sharks, rays & sea cucumbers cases are reported

Recent cases

Where seized sharks, rays & sea cucumbers came from, and where it was seized

997 shipments of sharks, rays & sea cucumbers seized or confiscated were reported to CITES since 2015 (CITES Trade Database, source code I). Counts are shipment records, not quantities, and some countries report far more completely than others.

Taken from

  • Mexico 182
  • Vietnam 131
  • China 76
  • Venezuela 63
  • Australia 23
  • Hong Kong 16
  • Colombia 15
  • Peru 12

Seized in

  • United States 869
  • Tanzania 18
  • Hong Kong 16
  • Brazil 15
  • Sri Lanka 11
  • Senegal 10
  • Singapore 9
  • Oman 8

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