In one of my science classes last year as a senior, my teacher brought up the topic of shark finning. She told us how it is becoming a very popular practice for the delicatessen in other areas of the world known as, “Shark Fin Soup.” Shark finning is awful in itself because the practice is abusive to animals and morally wrong. The practice pulls the shark out of the ocean, fins them, and then throws them back into the water. Often times, the shark will then bleed to death in the water in immense amounts of pain.
Why is this ridiculous practice still occurring? Well, shark fins can be sold on average for about $300 per pound. Those in the industry often justify this cruel practice towards these animals by saying they need the money to provide for their families. While it possibly can be understood that ones family always comes first, there must be another way. These sharks are being finned and then being thrown helpless back into the ocean. If they do not bleed out, they often will just drown.
According to the Discovery Channel, “Shark finning is responsible for 88 to 100 million shark deaths, per year.” While Shark Week and movies like “Jaws” tend to make the shark out to be nothing but terrifying and vicious, the shark is actually at the top of the food chain and is incredibly vital for keeping the balance of the ocean ecosystem together. Perhaps this is highly overlooked considering in Hong Kong, a bowl of of Shark Fin soup is often priced at over $100. It is considered a supreme delicacy that resembles important and high status if ordered and eaten.
What can we do as a society to stop this madness? Many animal humane societies are suggesting that restaurants in areas where Shark Fin Soup is popular go out of their way to state they do not serve the dish. By doing this, it will cause people to hopefully stop and think about the whole act and why it is so unjust. Sharks take twenty years to reach sexual maturity and produce young, so the rapid decline of sharks puts it in a very serious position of going extinct. Before any extreme measure like that were to happen, action needs to be taken. One of the first steps should simply be education about the topic because many people do not even know shark finning is something that is occurring in our own world.
Work Cited:
http://matadornetwork.com/change/7-reasons-to-ban-shark-finning/
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/about-this-show/sharks-shark-finning.htm
In many areas people think that it is okay to kill sharks because they have a preconception that sharks are out to hurt us. When in actuality, they are just using their natural instincts. Since their were so many problems in Mexico with the killings of sharks, they have put a ban on it. Although this is good news, Australia has begun to kill them because of deadly attacks. http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/30/mexico-is-saving-sharks-while-australia-kills-them/ It does not makes any sense to kill creatures that are important to the ecosystem and are slow to produce. It also does not make sense to chop off their fins just to make soup out of them. Hopefully soon we can find a solution to this problem.
Animals are being killed for their body parts in many third world countries, and this is one of the worst examples.
Denmark has a day where they kill as many dolphins as possible. The sea turns red with all the blood.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/megan-stamper/denmark-dolphin-slaughter_b_4681562.html
Hundreds of rhinos are poached each year in South Africa for their horns.
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/african_rhinos/poaching_crisis_african_rhinos/
Hopefully, as countries continually develop and move out of poverty, the number of animal abuse cases drop. As it is today, many people rely on inhumane work in order to feed their families.