Shark Finning [abstract]

Few people ever give sharks a second thought, but if we are to maintain our oceans, that needs to change. While many people fear sharks, the reality of the matter is that sharks kill about 10 people annually, while humans kill +30 million annually. Sharks are a vital part of the marine ecosystem; they were around even before the dinosaurs, and have been the top predators for millennia. If they were to disappear, the entire ecosystem would be thrown out of balance. Animals that were kept in check by the shark’s populations would boom, and with the increase of so many other predators, there would come a large decrease of many prey fish. Reef systems, and other marine habitats, would fall apart; and our own food supply would suffer. However, the root of this problem truly has no bad intentions. The cause of the near genocide that is taking place in our oceans is the result of the demand for one particular bowl of soup. In china, Shark fin soup has been a sign of wealth for centuries, and with the recent increase in the nations middle class, came an increase in demand for shark fin.

The methods that fisherman use when collecting fins from sharks is cruel, and savage; shark meat is of very little value, and most sharks take up lots of space on fishing vessels. This has lead fisherman to simply cut-off the fin of the shark, and dump the often times still living shark back into the water, where it dies a horrible death, either drowning or sinking to the sea floor where they are eaten alive by other fish. Sharks are generally unprotected, and even those that are considered endangered, or reside in marine reserves, are harvested for their fins. Not only are they unprotected, but there is no true regulation of the shark-finning market. In some cases, it is required that the fins be returned to port with the body they came from, but most times, there is no one taking inventory of the number of fins-per-body, and the rule is generally unenforced.

The solution, I believe, should be to gradually add more regulation to the shark-finning market, if not find some alternative to the cruel practice, or completely banning it (I propose regulating first, because it is unlikely that the Chinese middle/upper class would be willing to make a change to what they know as a centuries-old status symbol, and they would likely take offense if we were to ban shark-finning). To regulate the market would take a global effort, so it would probably be easiest to lead by example, and require anyone fishing for sharks specifically to have a permit that allows them to. We should also put a quota of how many any one vessel can harvest, and require the sharks be returned to port fins attached. Anyone who breaks the rule, finning at sea, would lose their permit. If a vessel has lost its permit, it would be searched every time it comes back to port, and if it is caught with sharks, or their fins, on board, they will have their shark-fishing hooks (if they use them) confiscated, and be fined. If the fine is not paid, the boat will be taken.