Daily Pearl: Shark Fin Soup: Delicacy VS Animal Cruelty

Shark Fin Soup

Shark fin soup is a delicacy most commonly found in Asian countries such as China and others in the Far East. The soup is made up of shark fin and chicken (or other) stock; the shark fin itself is essentially tasteless so the stock is added to bring flavor, whereas the fin adds only texture. This delicacy costs about $100 per bowl and is usually served at special occasions like weddings to demonstrate one’s wealth. However, weddings alone do not support the shark finning trade; it is the restaurants that have the most to gain from selling such high-end food.

Sharks returned without fins

On the less glamorous side of shark fin soup is the devilish act that allows the soup to exist: shark finning. Shark finning occurs when fishermen hook a shark, brutally chop off all its fins, then dispose of the body since it holds no value. Most of the time, sharks are returned to the ocean alive in this painful condition. Unable to swim, the sharks immediately sink to the bottom and later die of starvation, are eaten by other fish, or drown due to the lack of water flowing through their gills for oxygen.

Shark Finning in action

Even with the alarming consequences of shark finning, shark fin soup remains in high demand. John Platt, on the Scientific American blog Extinction Countdown, writes that shark fin soup is actually “extinction in a bowl.” Evidence of the impending “extinction,” as Platt puts it, is clearly visible in the dissipating shark populations.

"According to a recent report by the marine conservation organization Oceana, Hong Kong imports up to 10 million kilograms of shark fins, representing up to 73 million sharks, every year. The fins, imported by fishermen from 87 different countries, can fetch more than $1,300 each."

Sharks are beginning to reach emergency status because with all of the overfishing they are not given enough time to even attempt repopulation. Sharks as a species take at least seven years to reach maturity and only raise one or two pups at one time any given year. Moreover, shark extinction will have an adverse effect on the ocean’s ecosystem as a whole; without the presence of such a top predator the entire food chain will suffer.

Ultimately, it does not matter how much fear man has toward a species, no animal deserves to be treated with such malice. So what is it going to take for shark fin soup to become extinct and for sharks to thrive naturally once more? In order for conservation efforts to succeed, the work can never stop. We need to put more sharks on the Endangered Species List and promote harsher punishments for illegal fishing activities.