The Shark Fin Soup Phenomenon
There are several ways cultures use food to advertise personal wealth and status. In some countries it is caviar, in others it could be lobster. In China, it is a special soup. Shark fin soup has been served in China for centuries as a symbol of power, prestige and honor at weddings and other celebrations. In making this soup or stew, the fins from a variety of shark species are valued for the gelatinous texture when cooked, although the fins themselves are rather tasteless. In addition, beyond the symbolic reasons for serving shark fin soup, many believe it provides a myriad of health benefits. Once considered a delicacy, shark-fin soup consumption has soared over the past decade. Indeed, a UN study found that fin imports to Hong Kong and Taiwan alone rose 214 percent from 1985 to 1999, a situation due in part to the combination of a large, growing population and increased wealth across Asia
What is the actual impact of the shark fin trade? Historically, the practice has gone largely unmanaged so there has been a severe lack of available catch and trade data. In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that reported catch data was at 10 million sharks killed per year just for their fins. However, shark finning is done largely at sea, where the fins are removed and the shark is discarded overboard, so it is easy for harvesting to go unreported. Significant progress has been made in recent years to provide a more accurate picture of harvest numbers. Researchers are analyzing records from commercial markets and using genetic techniques to identify species composition in the shark fin trade. Also in 2006, a study published by Shelley Clarke and colleagues estimated the global shark catch for the fin trade to be between 26 to 73 million sharks per year, a vastly different number than the UN estimates. The difference in that range, 47 million individuals, and the UN estimates further emphasizes the point that better catch data is critical. For fishery scientists and fisheries management agencies, the biggest question is how much is too much? What is the tipping point for these shark populations and, in some species, have we surpassed it?
Who is Protecting the Sharks?
Perhaps just in time, nations are now realizing that some shark species could be facing extinction due to unsustainable commercial fishing practices. Groundbreaking measures to protect and conserve shark populations are beginning to emerge. Many island nations in the Pacific have become leaders in the shark conservation movement. The Maldives, home to more than 30 shark species and a haven for shark-seeking scuba divers and ecotourists, were one of the first to recognize the need to protect one of its major attractions by creating a sanctuary for sharks. The Raja Ampat Shark Sanctuary of Papua, Indonesia provides a marine park to protect sharks, manta rays, mobulas, dugongs, and turtles. Escalating worry about illegal shark fin and sea cucumber exports prompted Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority to announce a moratorium on the trade of shark fins and sea cucumbers. Guam now has the distinction of becoming the third jurisdiction in the United States to enact a law (just signed in March) that further protects the shark population. The Guam law prohibits the possession, sale, trade and distribution of shark fins and ray parts on island. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has made it unlawful for any person to possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute shark fins in these islands.
Yet many of these measures mean little without proper monitoring and enforcement. Illegal fishing continues to be a curse within and around protected waters. In 2009, President Toribiong of Palau addressed the United Nations and declared Palau’s territorial waters as the world’s first official shark sanctuary. This was later expanded to include marine mammals. Recently, in an unusual agreement, The Republic of Palau formed an enforcement partnership with the organization “Sea Shepherd Conservation Society” to collaborate directly with Palau’s Division of Marine Law Enforcement (DMLE) to patrol and safeguard their marine protected area, designated as the world’s first shark sanctuary.
The US has been a global leader when it comes to shark conservation, having implemented conservation measures for more than two decades. Although shark finning was already illegal in the US, in January President Obama signed the Shark Conservation Act into law to further strengthen these measures. The law, which prohibits any vessel from landing sharks without their fins attached, may help to persuade other nations and international fishery managers to follow suit.
In 2010, Hawaii became the first state in the nation to prohibit all trade, possession and sale of shark fins and all shark harvest in the State and State waters. A one-year grace period was given to allow restaurants to clear out their existing inventory, although many restaurants had already decided to remove shark fin soup from their menus voluntarily. Recently, Washington State followed with a similar law. In California, where there is a significant market for shark fins, the controversial State Assembly Bill 376 would aim to ban the possession, sale, trade, and distribution of fins. Oregon, too, is considering similar measures.
Grassroot efforts have proliferated as well. One of China’s biggest and most influential stars, the basketball player Yao Ming, has become a spokesperson against eating shark fin soup. Campaigns like “Stop the Soup” target the younger Chinese generation and their thinking about cultural traditions involving sharks. The organization Shark Truth asks couples to take a pledge to protect sharks and not serve the soup at their wedding banquet.
There are many scientific studies showing how top predators play a key role in ocean ecosystems, and a number of predictions on what will happen if the shark populations are not protected. Assessing these impacts on ocean food webs are difficult at best and often require long-term investigations. However, whether it is the scientific community, conservationists, or management agencies, it is not difficult to see that the current status of shark fin industry is not sustainable. A global issue of this magnitude and size will take a strong multidimensional approach. The actions of nations, creative methods of enforcement, pressure from the younger generation to change this tradition, and education on the vastness of the problem may provide just enough of a unified effort to generate a change.
This article is reprinted from our Summer 2011 Newsletter. To read the newsletter in its entirety, download it here.