As
any of you who have read my introductory blog post will know, sharks give me
lots of emotions. Now, I could gush all day about how precious my babies are,
but that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to talk about something more
important than a thresher shark’s giant, adorable eyes or a goblin shark’s
goofy snout – their fins. But what do their fins have to do with anything?
Ask
anyone who’s been to your average Chinese restaurant what the soup lineup is.
You’ve got your egg drop, your wonton, your hot and sour, you name it. However,
in China – as well as in an alarmingly large number of Chinese restaurants here
in America – they serve a delicacy called shark fin soup. It’s an unimpressive
soup, really. The shark fin itself has no flavor; the only flavor the soup has
is what’s put into the broth. What’s the big deal, you might ask? It’s just
another one of those weird traditional Chinese foods. Well, that’s where you’re
wrong. It is a big deal, because that shark fin that millions of people dig
into might as well be floating in blood as opposed to broth.
The
flavorless fin is ‘harvested’, if I can even call it that, in the most
sickeningly brutal of ways. Sharks are dragged from the water, and their fins
are callously sliced off. Wriggling and struggling, their bodies now bloody
stumps, the finless fish are then tossed back into the ocean, where they sink
to the bottom and die, practically buried alive. The act is treated as
routinely and emotionlessly as one might treat mowing the lawn; though by murdering
sharks – oftentimes illegally – the finners are raking in disgusting amounts of
blood-soaked money.
The
main market for these fins is China, with Hong Kong being the hub. Here,
restaurants with stomach-churning names like Shark Fin City and the regrettably
infamous Tim Fat serve up bowl after bowl of the stuff. It’s claimed that the
dish is so widespread and popular due to shark fin soup being a traditional luxury
item. However, both of these claims are mingled with misleading information.
At
the Tim Fat restaurant, the most expensive ‘luxury’ soup goes for about 10 U.S.
dollars, and shark fin products are sold in mini-marts. Yeah, that definitely sounds
like a high-class item. While it is true that during China’s Ming Dynasty
emperors and their associates feasted on fins, elevating the meal to elite
status, it’s hard to believe that this ‘tradition’ could be upheld in a country
that has been as poor as China has been in the last couple centuries,
especially when the communist government was so intent on erasing any trace of
privilege among citizens. Shark finning is in the same vein as foot-binding in
terms of cultural tradition. While it is definitely a part of China’s history, due
to its obviously barbaric nature, it’s a tradition that should not be upheld.
One
of the saddest things about the brutality of shark finning is that the act
itself is unknown to most people. Because the issue concerns sharks, most of
the world doesn't care. Everyone raises a fuss about saving pandas and whales,
while relatively no one makes a big deal about shark slaughter. When most
people think of sharks, they think of Jaws – don’t go into the water. They’re
afraid to go too far out into the ocean. We are taught to fear sharks, not to
love and respect them for the truly awesome creatures that they are. As opposed
to revering and respecting them, we see sharks as monsters and man-eaters. Why
should it matter that these beasts are getting killed? All the better, right?
It saves lives!
Once
again, you’re wrong – it’s the opposite that’s true. What people don’t realize
is how crucial sharks are to life on Earth. Our lives depend on the ocean, and
sharks help keep the ocean in balance. As time has shown, when the ocean
becomes imbalanced, the Earth does, too. Phytoplankton, the ocean’s smallest of
organisms, produce 70% of the world’s oxygen, and without sharks there to feed
on plankton-eaters, their numbers could get out of control, consuming the
plankton necessary to support life on land. It’s the lives of sharks that save
our own, and by maintaining finning practices, killing millions of sharks and
endangering one-third of their species in the process, we are only further
endangering ourselves.
What
can be done? Sadly, even perfect finning bans cannot save sharks. What we need
is strict limits and laws on shark catches. Way too many are being killed,
whether it’s for their fins, their meat, or by accident. The most important
thing is getting the word out about the real importance of the shark’s plight.
If the public becomes educated and energized about the issue, they can speak up
for the sharks and real change can be made.
If
you go to sharkwater.com, you can pledge to save sharks as well as donate to
the cause. If not that, you can at the very least spread the word. The more
people that know about the threat to sharks, the better. The practice of shark
finning is pointless and brutal, and is only encouraging the destruction of one
of Earth’s most important and beautiful species. This isn't just about saving
sharks. It’s about saving ourselves and our planet as well. The animal that we’re
taught to be the most afraid of is the one we can’t live without.
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