An increasing awareness of the vulnerability of sharks to exploitation by shark finning has contributed to a
growing concern about an unsustainable shark fishery. Taiwan’s fleet has the 4th largest shark catch in the world,
accounting for almost 6% of the global figures. Revealing the diversity of sharks consumed by Taiwanese is important in
designing conservation plans. However, fins make up less than 5% of the total body weight of a shark, and their bodies are
sold as filets in the market, making it difficult or impossible to identify species using morphological traits.