Cruel delicacy: shark fin trade sees Pacific stocks collapse

Every year tens of millions of sharks are slaughtered solely for their fins.

Growing demand for shark fin soup has led to the massive surge in the trade of shark fins.

The delicacy was once only affordable for the Chinese elite, but as people have grown wealthier, so has the appetite for shark fin soup.

The remote reefs of the Pacific used to provide some sanctuary for sharks but now even there the illegal fishermen are coming, and the trade is having a devastating effect on shark populations.

The story is the same right around the world.

In the past three decades global shark populations have plummeted by as much as 90% in some areas, with the sharp decline being blamed on the shark fin trade.

Mick Dowers from the Australian Anti-Shark Finning Alliance told the ABC while the shark fins are worth hundreds of dollars a kilo, the shark flesh is virtually worthless.

"A lot these sharks are dragged out of the water, they're still alive, their fins and tails are hacked off."

Dr Mark Meekan, a scientist with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, says demand feeds the fishing pressure on sharks.

"These animals simply can't take that sort of fishing pressure, the stocks collapse and all over the world now sharks are in trouble."

Hong Kong is the hub of the global trade in fins, with 50 per cent of the fin trade, coming through the port every year.

Indonesia is the largest producer of fin followed by Singapore.

Shark fin soup is popular in Chinese restaurants around the world but its biggest market is in China itself.

Dr Meekan says serving guests shark fin soup at a banquet is a sign of wealth.

"In the late 17th century there was an emperor who codified the laws for banquets and he basically says that the first course you should serve in any good banquet should be shark fin soup," Dr Meekan says.

"In a China with a growing middle class there are a lot of people out there who want to display their wealth and they want shark fin soup."

A Chinese emperor once decreed that shark fin soup should be the first course in any "good" Chinese banquet. (ABC)

In 2006 conservation group WILDAID launched a major campaign across China to increase public awareness of what goes into making the famous soup.

WILDAID China representative May Mei says that because the literal translation is "fish fin", most people didn't know shark fin was from shark before the campaign began.

The organisation has enlisted the help of big Chinese sporting names, such as basketball player Yao Ming, to help spread their message.

The campaign seems to have swayed the views of those right at the top.

Earlier this month, the Chinese government announced it would ban the serving of shark fin soup at official banquets within 3 years.

The surprising move has been applauded by conservationists but criticised for its apparent slow implementation.

"I don't know why it takes three years to implement that ban, it can be done now let's do it now, but it is a step in the right direction," Mick Dowers says.

In Australia, shark finning at sea - where the sharks are caught, their fins cut off and their often live bodies thrown back overboard - is illegal.

But Mr Dowers says flaunting of the law is not uncommon.

"You have to land the whole sharks fins attached but the problem is as soon as you step foot off the boat as soon as you're on dry land you can have as many shark fins in your possession as you like basically, no questions asked," he says.

Illegal fisherman frequently come in from neighbouring countries to fish Australia's northern reefs.

In 2004 Dr Meekan travelled with customs officers to assess the impact of overfishing in the north.

"At the height of the problem in the mid 2000, around 2007, Coastwatch was seeing 4000 boats, shark fishing boats, a year off the Australian Coast," he says.

He says most of the boats were coming from Indonesia on "smash and grab" trips, which involved rushing over the border to fish a few sharks, then going back over to escape.

Today Indonesia is considered the biggest shark-taking country in the world and one of the biggest suppliers of fin.

Conservation International Indonesia's Ketut Sarjana Putra says while the Indonesian government has the intention to stop shark finning, they are still looking for scientific information on its impact.

Mr Putra has been working with the government and local communities to encourage shark fisherman to find other ways of making a living from sharks.

"There are other ways of taking benefits from sharks for example creating ecotourism for sharks in Indonesia," he says.

In Raja Ampat, in West Papua, a shark sanctuary has been set up where the public can dive with sharks, but even that has been targetted by shark poachers.

WILDAID believes that when the buying stops, the killing can too.

Despite its win with the Chinese Government it has no intention of relaxing its campaign in China.

"We are going to work more closely with government and also with consumers to build the education campaign we also hope to get more support from the business leaders, restaurant owners and hotels," May Mei says.

Source: ABC News, 27 July 2012