Mongabay shark meat exposé sparks call for hearing and industry debate

A Brazilian lawmaker is calling for a parliamentary hearing after a Mongabay investigation found government agencies have sought to purchase thousands of metric tons of shark meat for public institutions, including schools, hospitals and prisons. Nilto Tatto, leader of the environmental caucus in Brazil’s lower house of Congress, said he was “shocked” at the scale of the purchases revealed in our article published in late July. “We can’t accept it,” Tatto, a member of the Workers’ Party representing São Paulo state, said by phone. The investigation — supported by the Pulitzer Center and republished by Brazilian outlets Folha de S.Paulo and ((o))eco — identified more than 1,000 shark meat tenders issued since 2004 by municipal and state agencies across 10 Brazilian states. It named 5,900 pu