Publix Sells Shark Meat: Eat or Avoid?

By Hannah Sentenac Mon., Feb. 25 2013 at 8:16 AM

Wikipedia

Since before Jaws used the Jersey shore as an all-you-can-eat buffet, sharks have had a reputation as the monsters of the sea. But no matter how intimidating they appear, the water-bound predators still fall below humans on the food chain.

In fact, shark meat is legally sold at certain retailers, including one local Publix. But with populations dwindling across the world (many making the endangered list), is it OK to be buying shark meat at your neighborhood grocer?

Sharks are a large genus, consisting of a whopping 470 species, but all achieve sexual maturity later in life and are slow to reproduce. Due to that fact, sharks are extremely vulnerable to overfishing. So is it ever OK to eat them?

After a reader spotted wild shark on sale at the Publix at 14630 SW 26th St., Short Order decided to dig into the issue.

While the label didn't specify the shark's sourcing and store employees didn't have any answers, a Publix PR rep told us it was coastal mako shark, harvested by U.S. fishermen from the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Mako shark is classified as "vulnerable" by the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, which means their population is at risk. Publix has said it's committed to selling sustainable seafood, but the supermarket chain ranked 19 out of 20 stores analyzed by Greenpeace just last year. Not so hot.

"Please know that we are committed to seafood sustainability and go to great lengths to ensure all of our seafood comes from legal fisheries. Shark, like all of our wild-caught species, is regulated. We look to the appropriate organizations and agencies to set the regulatory standards for harvesting seafood and enforcement of such laws," said Publix rep Kimberly Reynolds.

Not all Publix stores sell shark, and the supermarket chain doesn't actively promote it. According to Reynolds, it's based on customer demand.

We Recommend

BriscoLocka

I don't want to get bit by a shark when i'm surfing or in a raft, so I say open season on them.

We are the apex predators - we need to embrace our position.

Tigress

1 Like

@BriscoLocka Apex predators don't eat out their food supply. Unless they want to die out themselves!

There's so many things wrong with your comments that it's hard to know where to start...

Ked Killjoy

Avoid! What are they trying to do kill off all the sharks now!? Its not like they can make a shark farm like they do for fish farms. Its easier for us to wipe out the sharks than the other fish that we eat.

Ked Killjoy

SE305

18th and Biscayne Publix sells it too. Was told it was Mako.

Victoria Dee

Nomejodas Pleez Winn-Dixie is an unkempt hell hole. I would encourage others to go to farmer and fish markets for their needs.

Luis Quintero

if it smells like fish have a dish

Nomejodas Pleez

shame on Publix i shall share and call for the boycot of Publix !!! to Winn-Dixie we go!!!!

Osvet Armynavy

EAT!!

Howard Green Montaque

Somebody needs to visit a slaughter house.

Daniela Bianchi

1 Like

Sharks are often the apex predator in the oceanic ecosystem, meaning that they keep the ecosystem balanced and allow populations of other creatures to maintain healthy levels.Sharks regulate the quantity and health of other marine life, helping to keep fish stocks in the ocean healthy. They tend to feed on weak, old and unhealthy fish, which stops the spread of disease among fish populations. We need to educate ourselves more, start to make conscious desitions, eating consciously is about knowing where food comes from and choosing and abstain from eating food that was not produced consciously..Mass-produced food neither benefits our bodies nor our environment, and the more we become aware of this, the more the world will begin to shift to a more beneficial food system- Said all this, please boycott Shark meat/fins...

mercykobrin

@Daniela Bianchi I couldn't have said it any better myself! Bravo!!

Sisey Stonecypher

Avoid !!! Its like eating horse, you just dont do it.

TupaiKbron

@Sisey Stonecypher Um no. Eating horse is one thing, eating shark is another. A lot of islands in the Caribbean eat shark. It is good meat and safe if fished conscientiously. Don't assume every country is like the US.

Daniela Bianchi

James this is not about taste, its about protecting an especie that is at risk of extintion period.

Richard Nolan

1 Like

Remember when we had to reintroduce the Canadian wolf into the Midwest to be the same thing with the sharks . A healthy shark population controls more than you know ! That's why we have to stop these scumbags cutting the Fins off these beautiful creatures and just dumping them like trash !

Charles Falarara

Why? Are you people crazy. Leave the animal alone. Publix don't enough meat to sale?

James G. Camp

If you'll eat a tough pork chop, shark meat cooks up just like a dry piece of pork. Seasoned properly, it tastes pretty good.

Jaime Brunner

Avoid! I don't support that.

Gabriel Geronimo Pedraza

I hate sharks but I wouldn't want to see the population endangered. SAVE THE SHARKS!!!

Anastasiya Krestovozdvizhensky

1 Like

Stop eating them please. We need to protect the sharks. Sharks keep the measure of diversity of species in the sea in balance and guarantee that no other species can increase and expand uncontrolled.