For example, a lack of patrol vessels means that the offshore fisheries in Mozambique are largely unregulated and longliners with licenses for tuna may instead target shark, even switching gear and using gill nets to fish for shark. A report estimated that hundreds of Taiwanese fishing vessels were operating shark-fin fisheries offshore of Africa and the Middle East in the Western Indian Ocean. Fins were transhipped to freezer carriers and transported to Asian ports.
But shark finning is not just happening offshore. In southern Mozambique Chinese nationals buy fins from artisanal fishers and smuggle them out of the country via Maputo or the Bazaruto Archipelago.
It is said to be a huge and organised industry. Shark finning is not just occurring in unregulated fisheries. The reason given for needing to remove the fins is that it makes the sharks easier to store, but Costa Rica has shown that whole sharks can be stored efficiently by partially cutting the fins and flattening them against the body before freezing. Cruelty and ethics are only part of the story. Sharks are vulnerable to fishing for several reasons: they grow slowly, are slow to mature, have long gestation periods and produce relatively few pups.
The MSC seeks to reward best practice in fisheries management and to support fisheries that are working to improve their management systems. The MSC aims to reduce ghost fishing by rewarding fisheries that avoid gear loss and minimise waste. Ending shark finning. Jump to section Related Pages toggle items. Home Ending shark finning.
The impact of shark finning Shark finning is the cruel practice of removing any fins from a shark including the tail before discarding the remainder of the shark at-sea. Latest global efforts As part of our Fisheries Standard Review , we are looking to see if management best practices related to preventing shark finning have advanced since the current Fisheries Standard requirements were set.
Of the 43 shark fishing nations reviewed: 21 have a finning ban in place 19 have a fins naturally attached policy in place Four only apply conservation and management measures set by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations Nine have no finning bans Nine are unknown or unverifiable.
Sharks Why are sharks important? Can shark fishing be sustainable? Find out more. Find out more Improving fisheries management The MSC seeks to reward best practice in fisheries management and to support fisheries that are working to improve their management systems. Endangered, threatened and protected species The MSC ensures that certified fisheries allow the recovery of any Endangered, Threatened and Protected species. Around the world, people are realizing how critical sharks are to ecosystems and people, and officials are beginning to protect sharks on a variety of scales.
Although Appendix II still allows trade in shark fins, the fishing is required to be sustainable, giving the species additional protection. Additionally, many individual countries are making their own protections.
For instance, all sharks caught in U. Since , 22 countries have placed domestic regulations on shark finning. China is also working towards ending shark finning. To decrease the cultural value of fins, the Chinese government began prohibiting the serving of shark fin soup at official banquets in Yet cultural values are slow to change, even with growing support to ban shark fishing from governments and celebrities.
Many restaurants and hotels around the world continue to sell shark fin soup. One survey found that only six percent of luxury hotels in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, and Fuzhou had stopped serving the dish. To those who feel shark fin soup is a part of their culture, cutting it out of their diets completely is difficult.
In the past 20 years or so, the demand for shark-fin soup has rocketed. Many consider it de rigueur at important events such as weddings, birthdays, business banquets and during Chinese New Year celebrations. Shark-fin soup is also popular in traditional Chinese medicine although research suggests that it contains so much mercury and other toxins it is barely fit for human consumption.
It is estimated that as many as 73 million sharks are killed for shark-fin soup every year — an indiscriminate slaughter that is pushing many species to the brink of extinction.
But, ecologically, as top predators their disappearance will disrupt entire ocean ecosystems. Economically, they are worth more alive than dead — in contrast to the short-lived profits of shark finning, shark diving has become a sustainable, multi-million pound business.
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