Shark finning & the Trade of Shark Fins

Some shark populations have declined by more than 90% in recent decades. The rampant overfishing of sharks is fueled by a hunger for one of the most profitable items one can steal from the sea - shark fins. They are used for one product - shark fin soup. One tasteless, appendage that provides zero nutrition, but instead gives people a way to show status and wealth. Some shark species are being driven to the brink of extinction because of this insatiable market. Whether it is the cruel act of finning or the legal market for shark fins, at the core of it all is greed; to make money off a product that can be taken from the wild at a very low cost. The problem is that the real price is paid by the rest of the world, because of the damage that is being done to the ocean.

This is why, despite all other considerations in shark conservation, ending the trade of shark fins must be of the highest priority. The trade takes upwards of 100 million sharks every year. Stopping the fin trade, we would save tens of millions of sharks every year. It would single-handedly be the biggest impact we could make to protect species. If fins weren’t valued, then the incentive to catch sharks, or retain them when caught as Bycatch, would drastically drop.