Gordon Ramsay ventured onboard a shark finning vessel

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was doused in petrol and held at gunpoint while investigating the shadowy world of illegal shark fin trading for UK Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight series.

Gordon Ramsay had teamed up with TV chefs Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver for the Channel 4 series that champions sustainable fish.

As part of the program, Ramsay travelled to Costa Rica to uncover the illicit trade in shark fins.

“It is a multibillion dollar industry, completely unregulated”, Ramsay said.

“We traced some of the biggest culprits to Costa Rica. The day before we got there, a Taiwanese crew landed a haul of hammerhead sharks — police searched the boat and found bails of cocaine. These gangs operate from places that are like forts, with barbed-wire perimeters and gun towers.

“At one, I managed to shake off the people who were keeping us away, ran up some stairs to a rooftop and looked down to see thousands and thousands of fins, drying on rooftops for as far as the eye could see. When I got back downstairs, they tipped a barrel of petrol over me.

“Back at the wharf, there were people pointing rifles at us to stop us filming. A van pulled up and these seedy characters made us stand against the wall. The police came and advised us to leave the country.

“They said ‘if you set one foot in there, they’ll shoot you’.”

Ramsay’s terrifying experience highlights the social impacts associated with this illegal trade, as well as the urgent need for better regulation of shark and ray fisheries worldwide.

Gordon Ramsay’s Shark Bait will air on Sunday 16 January as part of UK Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight series.