Shark Finning: Appetite for Extinction?

Asia's taste for shark fin soup endangers a number of species. But attitudes are changing.

A trip to the fishing docks of Kesennuma City, Japan, is not for the squeamish. With assembly-line efficiency, men clad in industrial overalls oversee a process that begins with an early-morning mass dumping of dead sharks and ends with innumerable plastic buckets full of severed fins. The sharks' remains are unceremoniously forklifted onto trucks. Kesennuma netted some 14,000 tons of sharks in 2009, for which the industrial-scale operation earned more than 2.4 billion yen.

"Kesennuma is the largest shark finning operation in Asia — a major industrial operation," Tre' Packard of PangeaSeed tells The Diplomat. When Packard and a journalist went undercover to visit the site, they took video that elicited a stronger response than they could have imagined. "When we put the video on YouTube, we had 20,000 hits within a few days."

"Japan gets a bad rap," acknowledges Packard, noting that discussion of the country's practices often devolves into "a bunch of Japan bashing." The reality is far more complex. While Kesennuma has become known as ground zero in shark-activism circles, "finning" is not traditionally done at port, but at sea — often by fishermen off the coasts of developing Asian countries, with Indonesia atop the list, where sharks are caught, their fins lopped off and the remainder thrown back into the ocean.

"Illegally obtained shark fins are the third most lucrative illicit good on the world market, behind only drugs and guns — and outselling ivory."

Just what is it about tucking into bowls of bland, rubbery cartilage in broth that continues to inspire such demand? Simply put: few things suggest the whiff of money like shark fin soup in Chinese culture. This marker of class dates to imperial times, and with the explosion of the middle class, demand has surged. Signing a deal and want to impress a client? Having a wedding and want to impress guests? Just add shark fin soup to the menu. A big-name banquet without it is almost perceived as a slight to guests.

The epicenter of this consumption is Hong Kong. Estimates suggest around half of the fins from the 26 to 73 million sharks traded annually pass through the city. "It's very commonplace. Most Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong serve it in every district," says Alex Hofford, a Hong Kong-based photojournalist and shark conservationist. "You can get a HK$50 tea set with shark fin soup in some restaurants."