by Denise Neville

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 11, 2009

Sharks are believed to have swum in waters when the dinosaurs walked the earth. They have been hunted for many reasons for just as many years. In the past their rough skin was used to polish wood, Japanese warriors used their skin to wrap the handles of their swords so they would have a better grip and North American Indians used shark teeth as arrowheads and to make shoes and other clothing. Today however sharks are hunted mostly for their fins. This is one of the reasons why sharks are hunted.

The reason for the hunt

When we think of sharks it is usually with fear as they are a fearsome hunter but they also are turning into the prey and the hunter is man. Shark meat is low in saturated fats and high in polyunsaturated fats. This is part of the reason that sharks are becoming endangered. Shark meat is replacing red meat, shark liver oils are used in making cosmetics and health care products, shark skin is turned into leather for shoes and handbags, sharks teeth are used for ornaments and jewelry. The cartilage of the shark is used for artificial skin for burn victims, their corneas have been used for human eyes. Despite all of this the biggest reason for sharks being hunted is for its fin this is called Finning.

Finning

Shark fishing is a very lucrative business mostly due to the shark being an inexpensive meat when it is caught but not so once it hits the markets. Shark food is used for the very popular fin soup. This is served in the Far East. This soup is prepared from dried shark fins using a recipe that has been used for over two thousand years. Once this was only used by the Chinese but has expanded on today's market as a gourmet food that sells for $150.00 per bowl in US dollars. Finning has become very controversial and is considered a barbaric practice. The reason for this is that only the fins were used on the shark and the shark was returned to the waters to die. This practice is now banned in certain parts of the world including the US.

Lucrative business

Due to the demand of shark fins and the lucrative business it has evolved into is a great temptation for fishermen. But shark fishing tends to follow the boom and bust of the previous whaling cycles. The problems with sharks are they are slow to reproduce which leads to many types of sharks ending up on the endangered species list. If there are enough sharks hunted quickly it will lead to the collapse of the fishery as there won't be enough left to hunt.

The devastation of the shark has proven to be the fisherman's own downfall. There are many species of sharks that are entered on the endangered list. This means the fishermen will eventually end up causing their own devastation when the time comes that there will be no more sharks in the waters. This could have a major impact not only on the fishermen but more importantly on the oceans ecosystem. Conservationist is making progress in leaps and bounds to bring the hunting of sharks to an end. Sharks hunt to live but it still has to be justified why sharks are hunted.

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