Japanese angelshark is eaten and the rough skin is made into a type of leather called shagreen for use in wood finishing. Angel sharks in general are highly threatened by commercial trawl fisheries due to their susceptibility to capture and low rate of reproduction, and angel shark species elsewhere are known to have declined markedly under fishing pressure. Trawling activity in the Yellow Sea and other parts of the northwestern Pacific is intense and, coupled with pollution, has had a serious impact on the local ecosystem. The Japanese angelshark population is suspected to have declined by up to 50% or more under
Victimless Leather it. Because the artificial leather is made semi-living, the project might be seen as speculative and provocative to some people – questioning whether it is better to kill semi-living beings rather than living beings. "One of the most common and somewhat surprising comments we heard was that people were disturbed by our ethics of using living cells to grow living fabric, while the use of leather obtained from animals seems to be accepted without any concern for the well-being of the animals from which the skin has been removed." artist Ionat Zurr uttered after showing the jacket to the public