What is Finning?

Shark finning is the practice of removing shark fins from a captured shark, and discarding the animal at sea, living or dead. Often, sharks are captured as bycatch- as an untargeted animal- in the tuna and swordfish industry. In the past, live sharks were released, but the high value and increased market for shark fins is creating huge incentive for fishermen to take the fins and discard the animal, leaving room in the ship’s hold for the more valuable meat of the tuna or swordfish.

Is Shark Fining Illegal?

Since 2000 several countries have adopted laws within their waters to ban this practice. A few, such as the United States and Australia, have successfully enforced these new laws. The ICCAT and the West PAC; member commissions of Atlantic and Pacific pelagic fisheries have banned shark finning in their tuna and swordfish longline fleets: a good start. A few species are protected from illegal trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, small boats and nations who do not recognize CITES or other treaties are actively shark finning with legal impunity.

Can Shark Fins be Sold Legally?

Currently there are no regulations on the sale of shark fins. Shark fins can be sold legally in countries that have adopted anti- fining agreements and regulations. These agreements require the shark carcass to arrive at the dock with the shark, or if severed, on an agreed fin to body ratio. In some regions like the EU, this ratio is so high that it allows more sharks to be captured than reported by the actual fin weight. Once it is in the market or in the bowl, most consumers will not know where the fin came from, or if it was harvested legally or illegally.

What Sharks are Protected?

The United Nations Convention on the Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) lists the whale shark, basking shark, and great white shark as species that are threatened with extinction. These laws regulate the trade and transport of listed species across country lines by countries that recognize the treaty. To date, 169 countries have agreed to be legally bound by CITES.
In 2006 investigators performed DNA testing on wholesale shark fin distributors, discovering the fins of the few protected species.

How are Shark Fins Used?

Shark fins are used to make shark fin soup, a delicacy once prepared exclusively for the Chinese emperors and nobility. The cartilage from the fin is carefully dried and prepared, and used as an ingredient in a soup flavored with seafood or chicken broth and herbs. The process of preparation makes this dish very costly, as much as $100.00 a bowl, and is commonly served at banquets and weddings. The serving of the dish is considered very prestigious and even propitious.
Dried shark fin is the most expensive seafood product by weight, and is creating huge incentive for fishermen to hunt sharks, solely for their fins.

Who Eats Shark Fin Soup?

Although Chinese and Japanese primarily consume the dish, the consumption is increasing in western societies with affluent consumers, Asian and non-Asian.
70% of the dried fin market is brokered through Hong Kong and the east is the primary market for shark fin.

Shark Fin Soup is Associated with Asian Cultural Celebrations. Is This an Attack on Asian Culture?
No. This is an attack on an unsustainable fishing practice. The cultural associations are modern, associated with prestige. The problem is simple economics: increasing affluence creates increased demand. This demand is exceeding the supply, which is creating a positive feedback loop, making the shark fins more difficult to obtain, and increasing the price, making the dish more expensive, increasing the prestige. This in turn motivates fishermen to obtain shark fins from a steadily diminishing source of sharks. We cannot produce another population of sharks to satisfy this market.
Many countries have had practices associated with their cultures that were recognized as harmful or unethical and were halted: slavery for example. We need to change the consumer’s minds that it is prestigious to eat shark fin soup.

Doesn’t Shark Cartilage Cure Cancer?

It has been falsely assumed that sharks do not get cancer. This has lead to the medicinal use of shark cartilage to treat some cancers or reduce tumor growth. Although sharks have a low incidence of cancer, tumors and cancer have been identified in sharks. A study published in the Journal Cancer by Dr. Ostrander et al. of Johns Hopkins University titled Shark Cartilage, Cancer and the Growing Threat of Pseudoscience indicates that the promotion of crude shark cartilage extracts as a cure for cancer has contributed to at least two significant negative outcomes: a dramatic decline in shark populations and a diversion of patients from effective cancer treatments.

What Sharks are killed for their fins?

Any shark is fair game, but some species are more prized than others. The large fns of Whale Sharks, Basking Sharks are coveted. Ironically, these species are among the most threatened. Pelagic species such as Blue sharks, Oceanic White tip are common, however, several illegal fisheries such as those that target the Galapagos and other remote islands will capture reef sharks and hammerhead sharks.

Can There be a Sustainable Source of fins?

By nature, sharks are difficult to study and good fisheries data are hard to obtain. The practice of finning, which is mostly an unreported practice is robbing scientists of population and capture data. Many shark species are widespread and do not school. Many larger sharks travel vast distances alone. Most large sharks have late onset of fertility (decades) give birth to few young and have long gestation periods, making them very vulnerable to overfishing. Therefore, it is very difficult to arrive at a sustainable number.
With accurate population numbers, a good understanding of the target shark’s biology, and accurate reporting of animals captured, a sustainable fishery might be achieved.

Perhaps a more viable alternative would be a substitute product with known sustainability.

Download the following PDFs of WildAid reports to learn more:

> Shark Finning: Unrecorded Wastage on A global Scale
> At Rock Bottom: The Declining Sharks of the Eastern Tropical Pacific