Thirty sharks captured on barrier reef and exported to France all died in captivity

Scalloped hammerheads were at the Nausicai aquarium in the French port of Boulogne, near Calais

Thirty hammerhead sharks captured on the Great Barrier Reef and exported to a French aquarium over an eight-year period have all died in captivity and the Australian government says it knows nothing about it.

The deaths, which are the subject of legal action by Sea Shepherd France, could put a spotlight on the trade of threatened sharks caught in Australian waters because of a federal law that allows them to continue to be commercially fished.