Negative Effects Of Shark Finning

Sharks and humans have interacted with each other for many centuries. Great stories have come from these interactions; in these stories, sharks are usually portrayed as the antagonist. However, in all of actuality, humans are the antagonists. We are lead to believe that sharks are highly dangerous, but humans pose more of a threat to sharks than sharks do to humans. In the asian culture, sharks are finned to make shark fin soup and then they are thrown back into the ocean, alive, finless, and helpless. Shark finning should be banned globally, it is a cruel practice that is causing a decline in the shark population as well as a negative impact to their ecosystem. Recently, there have been organizations and laws that are trying to prevent this

practice from continuing, yet some people oppose these actions.
Shark finning is the removal and detainment of shark fins and the discard of the body at sea. It is believed that shark fin soup was created one thousand years ago by an emperor in the Sung Dynasty who was trying to show off to his guests. According to Simon Denyer in the article In China, a Rare Victory for Conservation “Once a rare delicacy served to honored guests, shark fin soup has become so popular among China's fast-growing elite in recent years that it is pushing some shark species close to extinction.” (Denyer, 2013) The consumption of the costly soup was returned in recent years at banquets and weddings as a sign of social status. It became so popular that ten of the fourteen species species of sharks, mostly fished for their fins, are at a very high risk of extinction; one of these species being the hammerhead shark.
The shark population is rapidly decreasing. Experts estimate that within a decade, most species of sharks will become extinct because of longlining fishing. Since sharks are maximum predators and play a major role as ecological stabilizers, changes in shark populations will alter the ecological dynamics within the entire ocean. For example, exterminated Tiger and Blacktip Shark populations along the east coast of the US led to decreased shellfish populations. Since shellfish filter water, this led to decreased water quality. Another domino-like effect is that fewer sharks will increase octopus populations, which will decrease lobster populations. At this rate, the oceanic ecosystem that has evolved over millions of years will collapse.