Faith Emrazian
Revised Position Shark Fining
English 2010
Not much is known about shark finning. And because of this, shark finning isn’t
important to most people now, or maybe ever. Maybe there are people out there that
don’t see how it would affect them at all, or it’s so essential in your culture that you feel
you can’t consider not having it. But that doesn’t mean shark fining isn’t important to you
and me. In some cultures having shark fin soup at a dinner is a symbol of wealth and
prosperity. If you don’t, it can lead to a termination of marriage or business partnership.
With mass consumption of shark fins it also has ecological effects on coral reef systems
and fish population.
Shark fin soup started as a traditional dish served for honored guests. Now it is
served at weddings and business meetings, impressing guests with a meal that can be as
pricy as $100 a plate or I should say, bowl. “There’s a “catch” with the soup however,
“When it comes to shark fin soup, all the flavor comes from the broth.”(Heimbuch)
“Shark fins are tasteless – fins are full of cartilage, which simply serves as a thickening
agent.”{Pfaffko) However China is growing at an impressive rate and that means more
people can buy this esteemed meal. It is important to note here that the body of the shark
isn’t eaten because it is high in ammonia. This gas is used in every day cleaning solutions
in our homes. Windex is the first thing I can think of that has ammonia. Most people
would not want a steak of Windex on their plate.
“Finning is responsible for the death of between 88 million to 100 million sharks
every year. Exact numbers are unknown because the practice is illegal in many places
and hauls aren't accurately counted.” (Heimbuch) “Shark populations are extremely
vulnerable because they take up to 20 years to reach sexual maturity and produce few
Faith Emrazian
Revised Position Shark Fining
English 2010
young. “(Pfaffko). So now we have an apex predator that doesn’t reproduce fast enough
to keep up with the demand.
There is something else to consider. Sharks eat fish lower on the food chain
assisting in the balance of the oceans ecosystems. With sharks keeping other fish in the
food chain in check there will be no over eating of other fish below them and so on.
Sharks are the control in the ocean making sure some species don’t grow to excess in
population. The great thing is that sharks have a wide variety of taste for food while fish
lower in the food chain are more particular in what they eat. So sharks can switch
between species of fish to eat while other fish in the chain eat one or two types of fish
and phyto plankton. “Without apex predators there is the potential for unchecked
predation by other lower predatory species, overeating of vegetation by herbivorous prey
species and increased competition that ultimately affects the species richness and
abundance within the system.” (Griffin, E., Miller, K.L., Freitas, B. and Hirshfield, M.)
Who among us wants to go to a tropical island that has no fish or coral life
to see when we go underwater? It would be a vast desert. I went to the Virgin Islands last
March. I cannot imagine what it a disappointment I would have felt had there been no
tropical fish to look at and chase in the water. I saw stingrays and sea turtles and I have
many pictures of Parrotfish, Blue Headed Wrasses, feather dusters and long spine sea
urchins. Not only that but we feasted on Caribbean lobster and conch while we were
there. This is what the locals eat on a daily basis. This is their equivalency to our chicken
and beef. They have to import their food from Puerto Rico, Cuba and the US. I wont tell
you what I had to pay to get extra meatballs on my subway sandwich. Also, I know that
there are sushi lovers here in the US. My husband is one of them. He and his aunt (whom
Faith Emrazian
Revised Position Shark Fining
English 2010
lived in Japan for a few years) eat this like candy. They both like eating something
familiar to Japan to help rekindle the fond memories they both had while they were there.
No sharks=no sushi. Sharks have that higher intelligence level that other fish in the food
chain don’t. Tuna is a big fish used for sushi. If the sharks weren’t there to keep their
populations in check then they’d eat all the smaller fish with wild abandon, wiping them
out and slowly die themselves not having anything left to eat. Again no sharks=no sushi.
To my utter annoyance and horror I’ve learned that shark fin soup is sold in
California. Thankfully there are efforts in some of California’s organization’s combating
this already. I will close with my same remarks from my last paper.
With the research done we must continue to look into ways to help ban this
practice here in America. If we can take care of a problem here, help change the idea of
the practice from something to gain self-esteem from into something that some won’t
base their worth to others on, it will influence other participants of this practice to base
their worth on something more important and less damaging to the world around them.
Faith Emrazian
Revised Position Shark Fining
English 2010
Work Cited
Freitas, B, E Griffin, and et al. "Predators as Prey: Why Healthy Oceans Need
Sharks." www.oceana.org. Oceana, n.d. Web. 8 Apr 2013.
Heimbuch, Jaymi. "Shark finning-The Big Picture of a Big Problem." Animal
Planet. n.d. n. page. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.
Pfaffko, Mary. "7 reasons to ban shark finning." Matador Network. 2 Jun 2011: n.
page. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.