In China, where retired basketball star Yao Ming grew up, the popularity of shark fin soup has made the country the world’s largest market for shark fin. However. Yao Ming has been working to ban the selling of shark fin soup in China the practice of gathering shark fins is immoral and environmentally harmful. Throughout his work, Ming has faced considerable opposition because of the cultural significance of shark fin soup and, across the globe, has received very little support because of the reputation of sharks as a whole.
To understand why sharks are one of the most vilified animals, one need only watch the Discovery channel’s annual Shark Week. Reports of shark attacking swimmers or surfers have fascinated scared people for ages. With sharks making appearances in several, popular movies (looking at you, Jaws), shark attacks have become a widespread phobia. However, as the old adage goes, they should certainly fear us more than we should fear them.
In recent years, global shark populations have been falling rapidly. In fact, approximately “100 million sharks are killed each year.” This reduction in shark population can be partially attributed to the shark fin trade. Shark finning is a fishing practice in which fisherman slice off a shark’s fin and dump the rest of its still-living body in the ocean. For Chinese fisherman, shark fins are “tempting targets” because they have “high monetary and cultural value.” When hosting guests, Chinese Emperors used to honor their company with a shark fin soup because this dish symbolized a triumph over a powerful creature. As a result of this tradition, the Chinese people value shark fin soup as a sign of societal importance. With China’s rapidly growing population, the consumption of shark fin has increased, which, in turn, has created a large incentive for Chinese fisherman to hunt sharks. As shark finning has become more widespread, shark populations have plunged dramatically. The environmental impacts of this trend are potentially severe.
According to Peter Knights, the director of Wildaid International, decreases in shark populations are disrupting the ocean’s balance. “These are ecosystems that have evolved over millions and millions of years,” said Knights. “As soon as you start to take out an important part of it, it’s like a brick wall, you take out bricks [and] eventually it’s going to collapse.” Since many shark species are apex predators, their disappearance can cause a ripple effect throughout the rest of the ecosystem. For example, when hammerhead populations lower, their prey, rays, increase in numbers. Since rays eat scallops and clams, an upsurge in ray population would cause the amount of bivalves to decrease, which would harm the area’s biodiversity.
Environmentalists, while obviously concerned about shark finning, have had a difficult time confronting this issue because it is culturally sensitive. As Yao Ming’s success showed, attempts to reform China’s fishing practices are most effective when Chinese people initiate them. For this reason, I encourage you to donate to Wildaid International, an organization that Yao Ming partnered with in order to end the consumption of shark fin soup in China.
For more information, visit the following sites:
- http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/shark-finning-sharks-turned-prey
- http://howtoconserve.org/2015/09/11/yao-ming-saving-sharks/
- http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/10/pip.shark.finning/index.html?eref=rss_latest
- http://www.upworthy.com/thanks-to-yao-ming-killing-sharks-for-their-fins-is-down-50-and-hes-just-getting-started
- http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/yao-ming-anti-shark-fin-soup-crusader-showing-185128028–nba.html
The Environment is Everything 