The popularity of shark meat, the demand for shark fins for shark fin soup, and the harvesting of deep sea sharks for squalene and other products has directly led to severe population declines among many shark species; especially in open-ocean species.
According to a report released in 2021 by the WWF, 36% of the more than 1,200 known shark and ray species are threatened with extinction.
Compared to bony fishes, elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) have extremely low reproductive rates and a generally late age of maturity. Where there is no fishing pressure, these inherent biological traits help to self regulate shark populations, but where fishing pressure is high (almost everywhere), sharks have a very limited capacity to recover from population losses.
When hunting, sharks target the weakest fishes because they are easiest to catch. Removing weak and sick individuals from bony fish populations inadvertently strengthens their gene pool. Removing sharks allows diseases to run rampant and jeopardizes the overall health of our oceans.
In mainland China, Hong Kong, and to a lesser degree some other east Asian countries, shark fin soup is a dish traditionally served at banquets and celebrations. With the rise of the middle class in China in the second half of the 20th century, the demand for shark fin soup dramatically increased. Some American researchers estimated that by the 1980’s as many as 200 million sharks were being caught annually.
Currently, Hong Kong and Mainland China are the largest consumers of fins along with Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Viet Nam.
Ironically, the fins add little flavour to the soup. The fibres in the fins are extracted and boiled down to produce a noodle-like base that is added to a flavoured soup stock.
As shark fin soup rose in popularity, the demand for shark fins soon exceeded the demand for shark meat. Rather than waste space in their holds, fishing vessels began finning sharks at sea and discarding the commercially worthless carcasses. This allowed them to kill far more sharks on each trip.
Western countries often point the blame at Asian markets for shark declines. While this may be justified for shark fin imports, the consumption of shark meat is a global problem that exceeds shark fins in both volume and value. The largest importer of shark meat is Brazil.
#1 Brazil 149,484 tons
#2 Spain 136,144 tons
#3 Italy 88,876 tons
#4 Portugal 60,316 tons
#5 Uruguay 56,963 tons
#6 China 34,809 tons
It should be noted that although Spain is the world’s second largest importer of shark meat, that does not mean they are one of the largest consumers because (combined with their domestic shark catch) Spain exports more shark meat than it imports, but this does not let Spain off the hook; far from it!
The responsibility for shark declines falls on shark fishing and shark trading nations as much as it does on nations that consume shark products. Spain remains the largest exporter of shark meat in the world.
#1 Spain 183,884 tons
#2 Portugal 104,758 tons
#3 Uruguay 72,839 tons
#4 Japan 59,117 tons
#5 USA 49,422 tons
#6 Namibia 37,492 tons
International trade in ray meat is also a widespread problem that has led to catastrophic declines in batoid populations around the world. By far, the largest importer is South Korea.
#1 Korea 141,655 tons
#2 Ghana 55,788 tons
#3 France 26,131 tons
#4 Malaysia 18,231 tones
#5 China 15,600 tons
#6 Portugal 9,471 tons
#1 Argentina 81,601 tons
#2 Sierra Leone 55,818 tons
#3 USA 41,524 tons
#4 Indonesia 18,049 tons
#5 Spain 16,188 tons
#6 Japan 9,752 tons
Never eat sharkfin soup and refuse to patronize restaurants that do. Avoid any medicines or supplements that profess to utilizing the healing power of shark cartilage or any other part of a shark. Don’t buy shark teeth (unless fossilized), shark jaws, or any items made with shark skin.
Join groups that are working to ban over fishing.
The Shark Trust in the UK is active in lobbying against finning and puts pressure on governments to outlaw long-lining of sharks.
Sea Shepherd takes a more radical approach. They have a ship on permanent patrol at the Galapagos Islands, and have been responsible for disrupting illegal long-lining in the marine park.
The Ocean Conservancy petitions the US government on issues often directly related to the over fishing of sharks and rays.
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