When you hear the word shark, numerous people think of a vicious ‘man-eating’ creatures, but without sharks there is nothing. Did you know that Australia participates in the global shark fin trade and industry supported by fisheries, and is the single largest threat to the shark population and is estimated that over 100 million sharks are slaughtered ever year by fisheries, primarily for their fins (Ocean Portal | Smithsonian, 2017)? Shark fins are harvested for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. We need to address the problem of shark finning, and we need to do it now!
Sharks have survived in our seas for over 450 million years but may be gone within the next couple of decades (Wildman, 2017). Sharks are crucial to a healthy eco-system and with 97% of species like Tiger Sharks and Hammerheads Sharks in the North Atlantic already gone (Wildman, 2017) it is beginning to cause a global effect on the ocean. Many shark species are unable to restore their population as quickly as they are declining, and if shark finning continues, all species of
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Hong Kong and China are the largest consumers of shark fins (Kassel, 2018). This picture captures a fisherman cutting the fins off a shark for sale in a local market. (Photo: Guillermo Granja/Reuters). A large percentage of shark fisheries around the world are illegal and supports a ‘ruthless’ black market (Wildman, 2017). The shark fins come from open ocean sharks like the Shortfin Mako, Silky, Bull Shark, Hammerhead and Thresher shark fins valued up to $1,100 a kilo at the back markets (Ocean Portal | Smithsonian, 2017). Currently, shark fin soup is losing popularity due to how cruel and inhume the process along with a bowl of soup that can easily coast up to $100 at some restaurants (Stop Shark Finning,