As a child I grew up having shark fin soup. My parents, both born and raised in Taiwan, always requested shark fin soup at special occassions. Holidays, anniverseries, birthdays – you could always find a heaping bowl. The irony is that today I’m writing to let you all know the impact of overfishing sharks and the impact its having on the ocean’s ecosystem.
Like many people, I had no idea that shark finning was such a devastating procedure. The process, commonly refered to as “finning” is when fisherman catch sharks, by pulling them out of the ocean, cutting off their fins, and throwing the still-living remains back into the ocean, where they slowly bleed to death. Putting this cruel practice aside for a moment, not only are these fisherman conducting a disturbing practice, but they are doing it to the point where shark populations are declining at a dramatic rate. Without this natural predator the ocean’s food chain will be completely thrown off.
According to BBC News:
Sharks are vitally important to marine ecosystems because they remove diseased animals and maintain the ocean’s balance of predators and prey. Marine ecosystems are critical to human life, and it is not yet known what the full impact of the loss of sharks might be for humans, but there are some early indications of impending widespread disaster.
Some shark species have had their populations reduced by up to 95%, and in certain places this imbalance is already threatening sustainable industry. For example, the loss of sharks has led to an explosion in the octopus population, and because octopuses prey on lobsters, Tasmania’s lobster fishery has collapsed. Other such trickle-down effects are being felt in a variety of locations, endangering the livelihoods of those in many sustainable fishing communities.
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Joanna – another great insight into a topic we all need to know more about. It was particularly interesting hearing it from you due to your ancestry. It is so easy for the western world to condemn this practice, but to the Chinese, it is so embedded in their culture that it will take a large amount of education to solve the problem.
I’ve always avoided restaurants that blatantly serve shark fins. However, I am slowly discovering that my former favorite restaurants have that item on the menu! So as a consumer I am making a choice not to support their business. I’m hoping to make a website soon where all the listing of places that serve shark fins can be in one place so before you go out you can check and see whether or not they serve this item and decide accordingly. Also, it would be good for more hardcore people to even lobby these restaurants to take that item out of the menu. (So perhaps I can go back to my ex-favorite restaurants!)
As for the issue of face in East Asian cultures, that’s always an interesting one as I also study cultural psychology. If I remember right, another culture, Indonesian, usually sacrifice sea turtles for some ritual. However, because they are endangered, local biologists have educated the people and some now use a paper cut-out substitute instead! Cultures need to learn to adapt to the changing world, too.
Wow, I’m seriously humbled. I was completely ignorant to how integral shark fin soup is to some East Asian cultures. Thank you so much for educating me on this. It’s an important reminder that for a lot of stuff like this, it might not be as simple as just saying “no.” There are two levels of change–the individual level and the cultural/group level. And it gets very complicated and challenging to make changes at the cultural level. My boyfriend in Namibia is facing many challenges like this, and the question often comes up of how can you respect and preserve the local culture, while at the same time educating everyone in order to make the community a safer and healthier place to live in. Thank you Joanna so much for reminding me of this!
29,000 sharks?! I wonder where they dumped the bodies, and how come no one discovered so many sharks were caught and killed until they shipped the fins out.
Anyone knows what’s the population of shark within the US ocean?
Hi Pylin – I too have realized that one of the best ways to start change is with yourself. I commend your efforts for no longer attending restaurants that serve shark fin – much easier said then done. Please let us know when you get your website up – would love to link it from Sand Shack’s blog!
Euqus – Unfortunately not only is it a very sad practice but secretive as well. Just like the dolphin slaughterings in Japan – very few people actually know what’s happening inside that cove.
As for the answer to your question, its actually a big issue. Because there are constantly new and disclosed accounts of shark finning, scientists have a very inaccurate account of what the worldwide and national shark population holds. However, some shark species have decreased as much as 90%!
Hi Joanna – thanks for posting about this. There are a lot more people who know about this than 3 years ago when I started stopsharkfinning.net, thanks to people like you spreading the word. We still have a long long way to go. Sharks are in mortal danger, I hope we can save them and the oceans before it’s too late.