A thread
Sharks are routinely sold in UK fish and chip shops. How is this possible? What's happening? And what can you do to help protect the oceans? I went undercover to discover more ... and the trip made headlines ...

Firstly sharks matter: they stabilise ocean food webs. They're the ocean's immune system, picking off diseased fish, keeping stocks healthy. They keep fish scared = they don't over-browse reefs; when that happens, reefs die. For 3 BILLION people fish = primary protein source.

Long story short, we really, really need #sharks. So, it's pretty shocking they are being sold in UK chip shops. In fact, 47 different species of shark can be legally sold in our chippies. It makes you wonder what's beneath the batter... #SharkWeek #SharkWeek2020 @jaglancy

If you buy cod or haddock, chances are that's what you'll get BUT order rock salmon, rock eel, rigg, dogfish, huss or flake and you'll be eating any one of 47 sharks! That's @DefraGovUK's doing. There is, based on 94 DNA samples, an 86% chance you're eating Spiny Dogfish.

My investigation found - surprisingly - that many of the people selling shark don't even know it's shark! If you buy in something frozen - called 'salmon' or 'eel' - why would you question it? These are old fashioned names for sharks that today traders seem to take at face value.

So... some headlines about SPINY DOGFISH. Illegal to catch in Europe. Critically Endangered in NE Atlantic. Females don't breed until they're around teenage. A recent paper found 58% in UK contain plastics. The @mcsuk list them as a 5 in their Good Fish Guide = "Fish to Avoid".

UK imports them from N. America and eats EU bycatch. We could argue until the sharks come home about a "sustainable catch" of a long-lived, slow to mature, potentially toxic, ecosystem-stabilising shark that is listed as Vulnerable globally. Or we could just stop eating it...

So, how to help? RTs! @DefraGovUK can change "Commercial Designations of Fish" ensuring shark is labelled shark, not salmon etc. &... help tell this story in a film! By supporting it [by 22/08], you'll get to watch it and save sharks & oceans! http://crowdfunder.co.uk/sharks-in-deep-water Thanks

UPDATE: huge thanks to our jawsome pledgers for trusting us as a voice for sharks! To support the film & see it in Oct, the crowdfunder is now open until midnight Sun 23/08 to coincide with the end of @SharkWeek UK! #SharkWeek2020 #SharkWeek Thank you http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/sharks-in-deep-water