One of the most abhorrent practices in the fishing industry is shark finning. In this practice the fins are cut off the shark while the rest of it is thrown overboard often when the shark is still alive. This is unnecessarily cruel because without its fins a shark is no longer able to swim and thus will slowly suffocate. Not only does this seriously deplete the shark population but it's extremely wasteful. This happens for one reason only; profit margin. On the open market, shark fins may bring upwards of $200 per pound, while the meat of a shark yields fishing crews only pennies to a couple of dollars per pound.

Today, as in 2002 the driving force behind this practice is the demand for shark fin soup by restaurants in affluent Asian cities. With increasing wealth in Asia the demand will only continue to grow. In response the US passed the U.S. Shark Fining Prohibition Act, which went into effect on March 13, 2002 bans U.S. vessels fishing anywhere-and foreign vessels in U.S. territorial waters-from possessing fins unless the rest of a shark's carcass is also on board.

Now only general quotas exist because identification of shark species is difficult. To protect sharks better conservationists would prefer quotas based on the individual characteristics of specific species. Recently Mahmood Shivji of Nova Southeastern University's Guy Harvey Research Institute in Dania Beach, Fla. has developed a DNA test to determine the species of shark. The test uses the same technology which is the basis of human DNA fingerprinting. They're now trying to find pieces of DNA that differentiates distinct geographic populations of species. This would be even more helpful for protection efforts.

All the laws and regulations are effective only to a point. Ultimately what will make the biggest difference in curbing the fin trade is the reduction of demand. Efforts to do just that have recently been undertaken. OceanNEnvironment, a marine-conservation group from Sydney, Australia and others have started a just-say-no-to-fins campaign aimed primarily at Asians planning weddings and elaborate business dinners. OceanNEnvironment has received many requests from brides and grooms who don't want to serve shark fin soup at their ceremonies. The organization supplies couples with letters explaining to guests why the soup isn't being served. These events often serve shark fin soup. Next March, Joel Simonetti and Lisa Cook of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute hope to carry their antifinning message by publishing a new English-language textbook on ocean conservation and resource sustainability that highlights the pressure that soup making applies to shark populations. The book is geared toward Asian children. This is important since these children will be future decision makers in Asia. Another encouraging development has come from Japan where they have developing an artificiality fin machine that produces fins close to the real thing. Hopefully this will also take the pressure off of sharks.

Clipping the Fin Trade, Janet Raloff, Science News, 10/12/02.
http://www.sciencenews.org/art icles/20021012/bob10.asp

Learn more about this author, Erik Markusson.
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