Shark fin soup has become a delicacy in China. It’s an expensive meal for the Chinese upper class society and a staple in high-end restaurants. But the process of obtaining the shark fins for soup is anything but delicate. In fact, it’s cruel.
In the practice of shark finning, sharks of all kinds are pulled out of the ocean, and all their fins are sliced off while the shark is still alive. The live, now immobile, shark is then tossed back overboard to sink to the ocean floor, dying a slow death or being consumed by other predators.
The demand for shark fin in China, where its consumption is most popular, has led to severe overfishing of shark. Nearly 89 million sharks are killed each year simply for their fins, resulting in many to be declared as endangered. Since many sharks are keystone species, their disappearance has lead to dramatic changes in marine ecosystems.
Unfortunately, many Chinese consumers of shark fin are unaware of the way it’s harvested or the detrimental impact it’s having on the oceans.
That’s why Global Greengrants Fund grantee, Shark Warriors, used a $5,000 grant to investigate the consumption and trade of shark fin. They focused on an inland area of China, where the shark fins must be imported from coastal regions or other countries. The study found there were at least 12 different stores selling primarily shark fin, plus several other supermarkets and restaurants selling it just in the city of Changsha. Their findings clearly show the shark fin trade to be widespread.
Shark warriors and other grassroots groups in China are working hard to raise awareness about the harmful practice of shark finning and the hidden costs of shark fin soup. They distributed the findings of their investigation to the public, with the hope that people will begin to think twice about what they order.