“Buying a Pig in a Poke”: The Problem of Elasmobranch Meat Consumption in Southern Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, the demand for sustainably certified seafood is increasing and retailers have promised to source all seafood from sustainable sources by 2015. In the southern portion of the country, elasmobranch meat is sold as cação, and consumers are often unaware that cação refers to any type of elasmobranch. The present study used questionnaires to investigate the lay public’s knowledge of elasmobranch meat sold in a Brazilian city. Shoppers were surveyed at supermarkets in Curitiba, the largest city in southern Brazil. The study revealed that people do not link commercialized cação meat to sharks and rays (Elasmobranchii), with more than half of respondents who claimed to have already eaten cação did not think they had ever eaten shark or ray. The educational profile of interviewees suggests that this lack of knowledge may be even more common in other segments of Brazilian society. Therefore, we suggest that ecological information about elasmobranchs should be included in Brazilian elementary and high school curricula. Such a measure has the potential to modify behavior, create awareness, and stimulate responsibility throughout society, with the primary goal of reducing shark meat consumption and, ultimately, guaranteeing the long term conservation of marine resources.

DNA barcoding reveals the mislabeling of fish in a popular tourist destination in Brazil

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Rethinking use and trade of pelagic sharks from Brazil

“…A recent study demonstrated that Brazilians do not know they are eating sharks. In a large city in southern Brazil, more than 70% of surveyed consumers were unaware that "cação" refers to sharks, and more than half of the respondents claimed to have already eaten "cação" but have never eaten sharks or rays [10].…”

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A network meta‐analysis of threats to South American fish biodiversity

“…Currently, the world's largest consumers of elasmobranchs include Brazil and Uruguay, accounting for 20,992 and 4,077 captures between 2000 and 2011, respectively (Dulvy et al, 2014). This consumption includes threatened species, such as several elasmobranchs locally named "cação" (Bornatowski, Braga, Kalinowski, & Vitule, 2015), which most people do not realize that refers to sharks and rays.…”