The following is a guest post about the horrors of shark finning.
Sharks are a regular feature on television channels like the Discovery Channel, with even entire weeks devoted to this majestic sea creature. However, watching these shows on DIRECT.TV from home often does not give weight to the real struggles and dangers that many sharks face, including the barbaric practice of shark finning.
Shark finning is the practice of removing fins from live sharks with sharp tools, and then tossing the shark back into the ocean. The shark is thrown back because shark fins are often more valuable than the meat itself. In fact, dried shark fin can go for as much as $300 a pound or more. The fins are then utilized in a wide variety of ways, especially in areas of Asia. For example, shark fin soup is a delicacy in most of Asia, especially China. Shark fins are also dried and used in alternative medicine and ancient medical practices. Claims for shark fins include relieving joint pain and curing cancer, though no research is available to back any of these claims.
Sadly, with a fins cut off (this video is very graphic, be warned), sharks are unable to navigate in the water. Without proper navigation skills, sharks become open prey for predatory fish. If not attacked, the shark may also die from starvation, as the shark relies on the fin to successfully attack its prey. Even if the shark manages to get food, it will most likely suffocate due to lack of movement. Sharks must constantly move so that their gills can extract oxygen from the surrounding water. If they are unable to move correctly, they will not be able to intake oxygen and will suffocate.
While there are laws in place protecting endangered species of shark from shark finning, international waters are rarely regulated when it comes to the practice. Fin hunters also rarely care what type of shark they remove the fin from, threatening both endangered and at risk species with extinction. Some numbers estimate that millions of sharks lose their fins each year, but these are only estimates, since the only way to gauge is to look at declared imports in popular locations for shark fin use, such as Hong Kong.
The high rate of finning seriously puts many shark species at risk of disappearing completely. If our world continues to disregard this delicate balance of life, the Discovery Channel will soon be talking about sharks in the same way as dinosaurs, extinct.
There are many groups and people working to end this practice, and with any luck bringing it to light will help speed along the process. Let’s try to save these important apex predators.
