Whilst the whale shark is considered an endangered species, Shark fins from endangered species including the giant, placid whale shark were found in a Singapore Airlines shipment from Colombo to Hong Kong in May, highlighting the widespread challenges the Chinese territory faces in regulating the trade, a report from Channel News Asia today revealed.

“The 980kg shipment of assorted fins came from Colombo, Sri Lanka via Singapore” the report said adding that Singapore Airlines, which bans shark fin cargo, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday (May 30) that the shipment had been labelled as "dry seafood".

The report said that Hong Kong permits imports of shark fins, viewed as a delicacy, but shark species listed by the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) must be accompanied by a permit.

Hong Kong is the world's largest trading hub for shark fins and has moved to stop illegal trading.

The report said that Asia director at Sea Shepherd, who discovered the endangered fins within the shipment, had said that "This is another case of misleading and deceiving. The shipment came declared as 'dried seafood' so didn't flag any alarms."

According to the report, Singapore Airlines had said that it had sent out a reminder to all its stations to immediately conduct sampling checks on shipments labelled "dried seafood" and had blacklisted the shipper. Over 70 million sharks are killed annually, pushing over a quarter of species into extinction according to WWF.

Photo - Bags of shark fins from a Singapore Airlines shipment are seen in Hong Kong, on May 11, 2018.PHOTO: AFP