By removing markets for fins

B. J. Skane



Pacific Islands Countries are leading the way in the growing movement to protect shark populations that are seriously endangered, almost to the point of extinction within the foreseeable future of some species, by removing the market for their fins which are more often than not obtained by “finning”, the horrifically cruel and shameful practice by fishermen of hacking the economically valuable fins from sharks and then throwing the still alive shark back in the water to die a slow and painful death.
It is estimated that somewhere between 73 and 100 million sharks are slaughtered every year for no other reason than obtaining their fins, whose tasteless gelatinous mess of fibres is used by Asians, 95% of them Chinese, in shark fin soup and dumplings.
The Chinese claim that eating shark fin is good for health and one’s sexual prowess, but the claims are unproved and of dubious authenticity.
Conversely, authenticated studies have shown that shark fin, like swordfish and marlin, because of the position of these fish at the top of the food chain, contains dangerously high levels of mercury absorbed from the smaller fish they eat.
It is therefore not only possible, but also probable, that eating shark fin is actually detrimental to health—even deadly—because of the body’s inability to dispel the dangerous element which slowly accumulates if one continues to ingest the substance in which it occurs until it reaches a lethal level.
In days gone by, because it was always extremely expensive, shark fin was eaten only by the wealthy and only on very special occasions.
During China’s Maoist years shark fin dishes were considered elitist and therefore off the menu.
But with China’s liberation in the late 1980s, a new, more affluent middle class emerged increasing the demand for shark fin enormously. Coupled with larger, more efficient fishing fleets, this has resulted in the rapid demise of the world’s shark populations we are witnessing today.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimated last year that 32 percent of open ocean shark species are in danger of becoming extinct primarily because of over fishing.
Other sources report an overall global decline in shark numbers of 90% since the middle of last century.
These are amazing numbers given the fact that shark meat is not highly sought after being high in urea content and thus prone to develop dangerous levels of ammonia if not bled and dealt with properly immediately after being landed.
Although huge numbers of sharks are caught by deep-sea longliner and purse seine fishing vessels, it is not commercially viable to spend the time necessary to treat the carcasses or to give them freezer space that is reserved for the more highly valued tuna.
The only thing valuable about a shark is its fins, which because they can be transformed into the shark fin soup or platter so revered by Chinese, command extremely high prices on legal markets and even more on black markets.
Although many countries have introduced legislation to make it illegal to remove any of the fins of a shark and discard the carcass at sea and to land or have custody, control or possession of fins aboard a fishing vessel without the corresponding carcasses or a 5% ratio of fins to carcasses, conversationalists have always said that ratios don’t prevent finning.
Fishermen can still be good boys at the dock by “high grading”—keeping the carcasses of smaller sharks which command a good price while throwing out their less valuable fins, then catching and finning a load of sharks with high-value fins and discarding the carcasses. 
Tuna Fishing Vanuatu’s system of unloading shark carcasses in Port Vila and the fins at their base in Suva lends itself to such abuse by “high graders” during the open sea voyage from Vanuatu to Fiji, as does another reason the agreements don’t work in practice—that the shark fins, often seen drying on lines stretching throughout the rigging, radio masts and gantries of fishing boats, once dried are easy to store out of sight until they can be smuggled to port via trans-shipment vessels (mother ships).
These ships roam the oceans bringing fuel, water, supplies, new crew and spare parts to the fleets of fishing vessels and taking catches back to their home ports—not always legally, with vessels involved in what is known as fish laundering, doctoring their logbooks to make it appear the illegal fish (or fins) they are carrying have been caught legitimately.
The only way to make sure finning doesn’t happen, conservationists used to say, was to ensure that all sharks are landed “finzon”.
Laws such as the US Shark Conservation Act, signed by Barak Obama in January, 2010 that prohibits any boat in US waters from carrying shark fins without the corresponding number and weight of carcasses, and decrees that all sharks must be brought to port with their fins attached, have been enacted, but they still only go part of way towards protecting the world’s sharks since it is unfortunately not unusual for observers to see thousands of sharks landed at one time from large fishing vessels, their fins quickly removed and the carcasses discarded.
So many deaths and so much waste to appease the palates of those who just don’t seem to get it, or simply don’t care that sharks play a vital role in the ocean ecosystems is appalling. 
The only absolutely sure way of protecting sharks and therefore every other species in its relative position below them is to remove the lucrative market for shark fins.
Several PICs and a few other small states have already done their bit to achieve this.
In late February, Guam followed by Hawaii, Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas in the Pacific, Honduras in Central America and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, passed legislation that makes it illegal to possess, sell, offer for sale, take, purchase, barter, transport, export, import, trade or distribute imported shark fins, in any form—including cooked or processed meals containing them—with exemptions for possession of shark fins for “subsistence and traditional and cultural” reasons.
In March, the Marshall Islands imposed a moratorium on the trade and export of shark fins.
These initiatives are highly commendable, but larger countries need to catch on to make the significant difference required to save the sharks from extinction.
Fortunately, it seems they are beginning to, but the campaigns won’t be easy.
In the US mainland state of California, one of the largest users of shark fin products outside Asia, the introduction of a bill similar to those passed by the PIC’s has resulted in accusations of racism against the Chinese and insensitivity towards their culture.
The New York Times says: ‘Down the rickety alleyways and produce-laden byways of San Francisco’s Chinatown some see the proposed law as a cultural assault, a sort of Chinese Exclusion Act [of 1882, which barred Chinese immigration to the United States] in a bowl”.
But thankfully, everyone does not share such views. WildAid director Peter Knights told Sacramento Opinion: “Sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years, but at the current rate of overfishing they could be wiped out in a single human generation.
Fisheries regulation on the ground has utterly failed to reduce overfishing, market approaches [like the California Bill] are the way to go.
And not even school kids are fooled by the attempt to justify the environmental disaster that is unfolding before our very eyes on racist-cultural grounds.
Orange County Register reports Friday that “a group of local sixth-graders is helping to lead the statewide effort to ban sales of shark fins.
What started as an entry into a Southern California science contest has blossomed into an indefinite advocacy effort with the children starting a website (www.ilovesharks.org), meeting with local representatives and writing an instructional curriculum about shark ecology.
They are also selling “I Love Sharks” t-shirts on their website.”
In China too, there are some who consider the environment more important than a bowl of soup.
Channelnewsasia reports from Beijing that, somewhat surprisingly, a member of China’s parliament has proposed a ban on the trade in shark fins.
“Only legislation can stop shark fin trading and reduce the killings of sharks,” Xinhua news agency quoted Ding Liguo, billionaire executive chairman of Delong Holdings Limited and delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC) as saying. “China should lead the world in banning the trade because 95 percent of the world’s shark fins are consumed in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong”, he added.
And so the wheels turn. Any legislation that regulates a hitherto unchecked market is not likely to go down well, particularly where the tuna boats with their dubious practices and cargoes come and go and Asian shops and restaurants continue to stock and use shark fin products such as can been seen even in Port Vila where shark fin dumplings are available at Au Bon Marche supermarket priced at vt 650 for a 108g packet of four.
But it must change and Pacific Islanders must continue to play a leading role to ensure that the shark slaughter is stopped before all life in our oceans is brought to a standstill by the senseless killing of one of the major players in 400 million years of evolution to satiate the palates of a minority of the race that calls itself humane.