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Photographs courtesy of stopsharkfinning.net and C-pod.org
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The Campaign Against Shark Finning |
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One of our many conservation goals is to raise awareness of a controversial and widely criticized fishing practice that takes place every day, all over the world: —Shark Finning—
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If you’re wondering why this even matters, picture a fishing vessel out at sea, a fisherman hauling in a writhing 6-foot shark. Four other fisherman come over to hold it still while each fin is quickly stripped off the body with a filet knife. The animal continues to squirm as the fisherman let it go and effortlessly sweep it off the deck with a swift kick, the disabled carcass sinking slowly to the bottom. Imagine this happens not just once, but over 100,000 times a day, and then you will have a clear picture of what shark populations are facing. A conservative estimate of the number of sharks expected to be killed this year strictly for their fins is over 38 million. That shark from the example above could have been one of many different species that are targeted by fishermen worldwide for their fins. In the past fifteen years, some of the highly targeted species such as the Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarron) have seen populations reduced by 90% and are declared critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. |
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Finning is the act of slicing off the fins of a shark—dead or alive—while out at sea, then dumping the body overboard. Without fins these apex predators cannot swim and therefore no longer possess the ability to hunt for food, evade other predators, or even respire. It doesn’t take a science and math degree to calculate the number of sharks that go on to live long, fruitful lives after being finned. |
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Some of these sharks may see extinction well before the polar bears if things do not change in the years to come. Other elusive or hard to track sharks such as the Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)—the largest fish in the world averaging lengths of 45 feet—are protected by most developed countries, and yet they are still being finned in international waters today. One fin from a Whale shark can easily sell in the Asian markets for over $15,000USD, with the grand total from one shark exceeding $60,000USD. A frequently asked question about this practice is Why just the fins? The fins make up only 5% of the total body weight of sharks, and yet their value grossly exceeds that of the other 95% of the shark. This is largely due to an overwhelming demand for shark fin soup. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asian countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The fins themselves lend no flavor to the soup—they absorb flavor from various broths in which they come—only a thick, stringy texture. With the recent economic affluence in China, however, the demand has grown exponentially, despite the high prices—up to $100USD per bowl—that restaurants can fetch for the dish. The shark fin market has consequently boomed with China and Hong Kong together trading tens of thousands of tons every year, with Japan and even Spain not falling far behind. The trade is so lucrative, that it has inspired criminal organizations to dive in, pressuring locals of developing coastal or island countries to begin finning, spreading the targeting of sharks for their fins worldwide. To some degree, advocacy and support for the conservation of sharks has already helped stop finning in many countries, and continued pressure from major conservationist countries is showing positive results. Saving the world’s shark populations is no easy endeavor, but with it comes the promise that our oceans will continue to be a sustainable resource. The oceans are not bottomless pits with boundless abundance, but are finite wells that can easily dry up if too many buckets are dipped for sustenance. To paraphrase Paul Ehrlich, a professor of population studies at Stanford University, the often less recognized—and ironically most important—issue of humanity driving other species to extinction is akin to cutting down the very branch upon which we are so highly perched.
If you would like to help stop this tragedy from destroying one of the Earth’s most important animals, then please visit our News and Links page. Within the Conservation and Advocacy section you will find several links to conservation societies who are actively making a move against finning, as well as information on new developments in the fight to save the world’s sharks.
— Justin Speaks |
