Shark Finnning - Hanya Awan

Many practices around the world circulate around harming animals for personal human benefit, for economic growth, produce foods, or materials of fabrics used in everyday retail fashion. Whatever the case may be, these risky practices do not only limit themselves with endangered mammals, but also species of the oceans that already have trouble living on their own. Specifically, sharks are not only seen as vicious animals from the public perspective, but more humans kill sharks every year than sharks kill humans. The false statistic of shark attacks is increasing, which causes many to fear sharks and see them as a predator as well as a target for harm and killing. Shark finning is becoming a more popularized practice in the past decade, as many on boat or sailing see it as a simple opportunity to use ocean animals for their own benefit. This act is not only increasing within sharks but sea animals in general as many start to shift to the ocean for hunting because of enforced and restrictive laws for killing land animals created by

the government. The practice of shark finning itself requires the action of cutting off a live

shark’s fins and throwing the rest of the animal back to the ocean, where it dies a slow in strong agony. The fins are mainly used in China and Hong Kong and other communities around Asia and around the globe, to prepare the growing shark-fin soup, used in many cultural cuisines. The soup contains traditional Chinese history that dates back to almost 1,000 years ago. Although this dish is solely eaten once a year, for festivals and cultural year events, especially those in China, it does not erase the fact that more sharks are decreasing population and may soon reach the limit of extinction. According to the Shark Water Organization, more than 100 million sharks are killed each year due to shark finning. This only includes the reasoning of killing for shark finning, and the number may increase as other individuals kill sharks for other undetermined reasons. However, the public should be concerned, as shark finning impacts the ecosystem of the water. If all of them experience a mass extinction, then their disappearance in the ocean will disrupt the entire ocean’s ecosystems. The extinction of sharks can also impact health care

research and antidotes for long-term uncurable diseases. For instance, researchers are currently studying why sharks can resist cancer and how their wounds can heal so quickly. Without sharks, there may not be hope for higher health care products, inventions and discoveries to benefit humans. Before many countries banned shark fin imported goods from Hong Kong, many countries received a minimum of 1 million kilograms of shark fins annually. Many types of sharks have already been in the process of going extinct, such as the Scalloped Hammerhead sharks and the Great Hammerhead sharks being heavily exploited. It is a health risk to kill sharks and use those fins for food or human intake, as the fins that are cut sliced from the sharks contain dangerous levels of mercury, presenting a major public health risk. In August 2019, a lot of species of sharks which included 18 species of rays and long fin mako sharks and six species of guitar fish and 10 species of wedge fish were guaranteed more protection at the 18th meeting Conference of the Parties to CITIES. A ban on shark-fin soup consumption at official functions was issued by the Chinese government in 2012, with the main motive being austerity rather than conservation. Although many countries still have no enforced laws and protection for shark protection around their bodies of water, many other nations have been stepping up and taking slow but progressive action. Fishing bans are not alone going to solve the problem of shark finning, as in the past few years, many have resorted to sharks as a new appetizing product for the public, which not only includes the fins but the entire body of the fish. Therefore, finning is not alone going to solve the extinction and endangered risks of sharks, but greater action is required to protect these sea animals. A step to take is to ban finning first because of how much numbers it has affected from statistics, lowering the shark extinction by at least 70%.

Works Cited

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Discover Wildlife, 2019,

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“Shark Finning.” Awionline.org, 2019, awionline.org/content/shark-finning.