Mobile app launched to help NParks officers identify illegally traded shark and ray fins 'in seconds'

SINGAPORE — Officers from the National Parks Board (NParks) will now be able to identify sharks and ray fins suspected to be illegally traded in a matter of seconds, using a new mobile application. 

NParks, information technology giant Microsoft and American non-profit group Conservation International on Wednesday (June 8) launched the smartphone app, which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). 

The app, called Fin Finder, is the first of its kind in Asia. Although it is not available for public use, the team said that it is a possibility in the future. 

Currently, officers are required to collect fins from each shipment and manually check each fin against multiple physical guides and reference materials to identify their species, which “is more onerous and would generally take more time”, NParks said. 

Fins suspected to be from sharks or rays listed on the appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) are then sent to NParks experts for DNA testing. 

On average, this takes up to a week, NParks said.

With Fin Finder, officers may reduce the identification process to “a matter of seconds” by uploading photos of the fins, which will then be matched against a database of more than 15,000 shark and ray fin images via an AI-driven algorithm in the app. 

The app will also list other information such as the scientific and common name of the species and whether it is Cites-listed. After this, samples suspected to be illegally traded fins will be sent for DNA testing to confirm their status.

Project coordinator Dhanushri Munasinghe said that Fin Finder has an accuracy rate of 89 per cent over 35 shark and ray species, of which 14 are Cites-listed. 

“We do have plans to improve on the accuracy from its current figures… We also want to add more data and more species because there’s many more species out there that are being traded,” she added. 

Ms Ivonne Higuero, secretary-general of Cites, said that the app also offers access to reference materials that can be used for validation of Cites-approved permits or shipping documents, which is expected to reduce the time and effort spent on shipment validation.

Out of about 1,000 species of sharks and rays in the world, more than 30 are listed under Cites Appendix II for regulated trade, meaning that they may be threatened to extinction if their trade is not regulated. Commercial trade in these species is allowed only by traders with a relevant Cites permit.

More than 160,000kg of fins from Cites-listed sharks and rays entered Singapore's borders between 2012 and 2022, NParks said. 

Acknowledging that the illegal wildlife trade is a global and transnational issue, the team is looking to widen the usage of the app to other countries as well.  

Ms Wong Sze Zen, who is the senior partnerships manager for Conservation International Asia-Pacific, said: “Together with NParks, we are having a few conversations with various organisations including Cites about scaling this to other jurisdictions so that inspectors in other countries can also help to combat this global issue.”