Illegal Shark Fin Fishing
Can the World Trade Organization Police Black Market Shark Finning?
Shark finning is a black market trade that rakes in over US$1 billion each year while killing 100 million sharks.
The movie Sharkwater highlights the fact that shark finning happens at sea. Fishermen capture sharks, cut off their fins and then discard the fin-less bodies to slowly bleed to death or be devored by other fish.
About 95% of shark-based products including protein goes to waste off the shores of poor developing countries like Costa Rica and Equador that, ironically, depend on shark meat as a food staple.
Relatively cheap shark meat is not considered worth the costs to transport bulky shark carcasses to market. In contrast, dried shark fins can retail for more than US$300 per pound. One whale shark fin was valued at US$10,000.
Real Villains Of Shark Finning
Sharks are caught by a horizontal drag line festered with many baited hooks. Known as long-line fishing, this cruel practice kills all kinds of fish besides sharks as well as turtles.
Fishermen in poor Central American countries are forced into shark-finning. Their pay is about one dollar per pound, less than one-third of one percent of shark fin’s retail value. The real villains are the cash-hungry leaders and middlemen running the black market for shark fins who pressure fishermen into finning as many sharks as fast as possible.
Shark finning has strong links to organized crime and a history of violence.
In Costa Rica, the Taiwanese mafia are the lords of shark-finning. Local fishermen are forced to harvest shark fins while corrupt politicians are paid off to ignore government regulations. Equador’s government backed away from fishing quotas and long-line regulations when desperate fishermen rioted, took hostages and threatened to kill rare giant tortoises.
Countries Involved In Shark Fin Sales
Shark fin soup is a highly popular delicacy for the fast-growing and increasingly rich middle-class in mainland China. Overall, the Asian market continues to grow by an estimated 5% per year as shark fin soup’s high price is often used by the wealthy to impress guests or at celebrations. Shark fins are also used in traditional Asian cures, because the shark species has survived for over 400 million years.
Wikipedia.org also reports that Hong Kong is a hub for up to 80% of the world trade in shark fin. The European Union ships one third of all shark fins delivered to Hong Kong; Spain is the largest supplier. Other EU countries involved in the international trade of shark fins via Hong Kong are Norway, Britain, France, Portugal and Italy.
Non-EU fin traders include Taiwan, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen, India, Japan and Mexico.
Shark Finning Regulations
To date, 17 countries have banned shark-finning. A few others have legislated that shark fins not exceed 5% of the total shark weight on board.
America prohibits U.S.-registered vessels from shark finning anywhere in the world. Also, the U.S. does not allow the import of shark fins without entire carcasses to be imported into America. Storing fins alone on shipping vessels is illegal.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) must escalate shark finning as a high priority trade concern. Major players including China, European Union, United States and others in the shark-fin industry need to negotiate a WTO-endorsed solution with punitive tariffs for offenders and possible rewards for those in compliance
Otherwise, more countries will risk having no sharks left because of cash-crazed poachers who illegally harvest shark fins for black market profits.
Sources For This Article
This article presents independent calculations and insights based on data drawn from source material on sharkwater.com.
