Carwardine, M., 2019. Immediate Media Company Ltd.
Shark finning
Dr Sian Foch-Gatrell
Shark finning
• The act of removing the fins from sharks and
throwing the body back into the sea to die
• The purpose is for use in an ancient tradition of
serving shark-fin soup at banquets particularly for
Chinese aristocrats
• The shark fins offer little nutrition and virtually no
taste, the consistency can easily be synthesised
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Why is it a problem?
• Shark finning has increased dramatically alongside the
explosive growth in China’s economy
• A bowl of soup can sell for 100 USD
• ~150 million sharks are killed by humans every year –
this is unsustainable
• Of those, ~80 million are unaccounted for –
presumably used in the shark finning trade
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Why are sharks important?
• Sharks are keystone species
• The health of the oceans rely on healthy shark
populations
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Our Blue Planet
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>50% of oxygen
Absorb 20% of the CO2 we produce
Provide ~93 billion tonnes of food a year
Drive the climate and weather patterns
globally
• Play a part in cloud formation important in
climate change
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Are sharks protected?
• The UN introduced the International Plan of
Action for the Conservation and Management
of sharks (1999)
– No country is forced to participate
• Shark legislation varies
greatly globally
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Sharks in the UK
• We have around 10% of all shark species
visiting the UK
• They include mako’s,
basking sharks, blue sharks,
porbeagles, thresher sharks,
Greenland sharks and
angel sharks
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Shark finning - UK
• The EU has shark finning legislation (2013)
making it illegal for sharks that are landed by
fishing vessels to have their fins removed
– The number of sharks landed must be declared
• The EU has restrictions on the number of sharks
(and rays and skates) that are allowed to be
caught each year as well as those that are
prohibited (Council Regulation (EU) 2015/2014)
– Trade is banned or controlled (CITES, 2019)
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Shark finning - UK
• Shark conservation society (Bite-Back)
spearheaded a campaign in the UK to reduce
the sale of shark fins in the UK
• This led to a reduction of 82% of UK
restaurants to stop the sale of shark fin soup
and shark fin dumplings
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Attitudes towards shark finning
• China has decreased its sale of shark fin soup
by nearly 80% since 2011!
• However, it is rising in popularity in countries
like Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Macau
• We need to reach these countries much like
Rob Stewart has done for China
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#Teamsharkwater, Instagram, 2019
“Fighting for something greater
than ourselves will call out our
greatest heroes. It has the
potential to unite humanity to a
degree never seen before” - Rob Stewart, 2017
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Take home message
• Every individual can have an impact, greater
than ourselves that can have far reaching
consequences
• Every small change one person makes can
make a phenomenal impact
• So ask yourself…. What can I do??
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Appendix A: Prohibited species UK
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Sawfish (all sp.)
Basking shark
Common skate
Tope
Smooth lanternshark
Kitefin shark
Porbeagle
Reef manta
Giant manta
Several sp. of Mobula rays
Thornback rays
Norwegian skate
Undulate rays
Guitarfish
Angel shark
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Appendix B: Shark sp. UK
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Angelshark
Angular Roughshark
Basking Shark
Birdbeak Dogfish
Black Dogfish
Blackmouth Catshark
Blue Shark
Bluntnose Sixgill Shark
Bramble Shark
Common Smoothhound
Demon Catsharks
Frilled Shark
Great Lanternshark
Greenland Shark
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Gulper Shark
Kitefin Shark
Knifetooth Dogfish
Leafscale Gulper Shark
Longnose Velvet Dogfish
Nursehound
Porbeagle Shark
Portuguese Dogfish
Sailfin Roughshark
Sharpnose Sevengill Shark
Shortfin Mako Shark
Smallspotted Catshark
Smooth Hammerhead Shark
Spiny Dogfish
Starry Smoothhound
Thresher Shark
Tope
Velvet Belly Lanternshark
Appendix C: Airlines that have banned transport
of shark fins – 71% of global trade
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British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Dragonair
Emirates
Singapore Airlines
American Airlines
Air China
China Southern Airlines
Shanghai Airlines
China Cargo Airlines
China United Airlines
Eastern Air Logistics Co
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Appendix D: Still to pledge
• China Eastern Airlines
• United Airlines
• Fedex
• And 2 of the world’s 19 biggest shipping
companies
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