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Connor Johnston

April 8, 2022

ENVL 3121

Dr. Tredick

Shark Genocide

Summary- Sharks have been swimming around on Earth for roughly 400 million years (Manire

and Gruber 1990). They are regarded as the apex predator of the ocean but there is one species

even deadlier than them- humans. Shark populations have been on the decline in the last couple

of decades due to the high demand for their fins (Clarke et al. 2007). These fins make their way

into shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy that is admired by millions. The soup is deeply ingrained

into Asian culture and people do not want to change their ways. The increase in household

income in many Asian countries contributes to the demand for the soup causing even more

sharks to be caught annually. This paper addresses the ways in which people are trying to combat

the issue in two ways. The first is whistleblowing by calling out the people responsible for this

and changing public opinion to oppose the practices that currently exist. The second is the

legislative side involving the creation of laws to limit the number of sharks caught, illegalize

finning, and protect habitat to allow for sharks to regenerate.

Challenges, complexities, importance of the issue- Sharks face a multitude of problems driving

them towards extinction such as overfishing, habitat loss, climate change, pollution, etc. By far,

the biggest threat to sharks is overexploitation as they are overharvested for their fins to make

shark fin soup. It’s estimated that roughly one hundred million sharks are taken from the ocean
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each year (Verlecar et al. 2007). This number is well above their sustainable yield as it’s reported

that some shark species have declined by ninety percent in the last ten years (Simpson 2011).

Sharks are a particularly vulnerable species due to their biological makeup. Sharks are

generally accepted as following a type I survivorship curve (Erika 2011). What this means is that

they generally have smaller populations, live longer, and have less offspring. The average shark

doesn’t reach the age of sexual reproduction until 7 and has a couple pups annually (Verlecar et

al. 2007). This wouldn’t be a problem had humans not overharvested shark populations as they

would be able to regenerate their populations, but they aren’t able to keep up with the rate they

are being killed causing them to go extinct. Depending on the country, fisheries take any age

shark they get from the nets (Simpson 2011). Taking the younger sharks ruins the population as

they will never reach maturity and respawn, which replenishes the population.

The major reason sharks are harvested is for the use of shark fin soup in Asia. The

practice of harvesting shark fins is also extremely popular in Costa Rica (Simpson 2011). The

soup is considered an Asian delicacy as it was consumed over 2,000 years by rich and high-

ranking Chinese officials (Simpson 2011). Shark fin soup is desirable because of its association

with high class people. This reminds me of how certain foods in America are viewed as high

class such as lobster, caviar, truffles, etc. These foods are rare and sought after, driving up the

demand which creates more stress on the populations as more and more are harvested to meet the

demand. Shark fins were also banned from the public in China during the reign of Mao Zedong,

and early Deng Xiaoping eras due to radical cultural changes (Clarke 2007). It is theorized that

the relegalization of shark fin soup increased the demand. Another potential explanation for the

rise in shark fins lies in the increase of many Asian country’s gross domestic product. In (Clarke

et al. 2007) they discuss the relationship between income and shark fin consumption. As people
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get richer in countries such as China, the amount of shark fin soup consumed also increases

suggesting economic development allows for more people to eat shark fin soup more often,

causing even an increase in the demand for sharks.

Sharks were also overharvested in the United States during the 1930’s as their livers were

used as a source of vitamin A (Manire and Gruber 1990). This practice ended in a decade due to

the commercial creation of vitamin A and laws imposed to prevent overexploitation. Another

explanation for the decline in sharks lies behind the most popular shark movie ever created-

Jaws. The movie made people petrified of sharks as little was known about them at the time.

People began overfishing them for sport in the 1970’s causing populations to plummet (Francis

2012).

The main reason of importance for this issue is without any intervention it’s likely that

many shark species will go extinct. Currently, a quarter of the world’s shark species are

predicted to be at high risk of extinction (IUCN 2020). The Sharks are known as the apex

predators of the sea providing many ecological services to the plants and animals occupying the

trophic levels below them (Manire 1990). The removal of sharks would have devastating effects

on ocean ecosystems by removing top-down control provided by sharks. The loss of sharks

causes predators lower on the trophic pyramid to become more abundant which is known as the

mesopredator release hypothesis (Relyea and Ricklefs 2018). This causes strain on lower trophic

levels as the unanticipated increase of predators causing populations to plummet. This is already

being witnessed by fisheries. In the Atlantic, a decrease in sharks caused a spike in Cownose Ray

populations which decimated Bay Scallop populations (Myers et al. 2007). It is much like the

loss of wolves and bears in the United States which caused deer populations to grow which

devastated the forests they overgrazed.

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This issue also deals with animal abuse as the way shark fins are obtained is extremely

cruel and inhumane. In the documentary Gordon Ramsay’s Sharkbait Gordon Ramsay is

presented with footage of how the sharks are finned. In the footage anglers catch the sharks and

proceed to remove the fins of the shark with a knife while it is still live then throw it back in the

ocean to let die. There is evidence to suggest that sharks can and cannot feel pain. Based on my

research, I believe they do not feel pain since more evidence suggests they do not (Liu et al.

2019). I still believe this practice is inhumane because they are left to drown, bleed out, or be

eaten by other fish in the ocean after being finned. I know the anglers wouldn’t be happy if the

shark cut off his arms and legs and left him to bleed out and die. The practice of live finning

started becoming outlawed in the mid 2000’s in the United States and parts of Europe (Clarke et

al. 2013).

In terms of conservation, countries started requiring fisheries to bring back equal parts

weight of shark to fins to mitigate the number of sharks killed. This caused a thirty percent

decrease in shark imports from Hong Kong to the European Union from 2003 to 2004 (Clarke

2007). As for legislative solutions, I agree that a lot of it stems from a lack of enforcement rather

than lack of policy (Simpson 2011). I believe this stems from the size of the industry and the

money it generates. The shark finning industry in 2003 was estimated at five hundred fifty

million dollars (Clarke et al. 2007). This industry generates so much money those that run the

businesses can afford to pay off officials and law enforcement. This is why the laws are not

being enforced as the fishing industry can afford to pay off law enforcement while still making

money. If the practice was more regulated and enforced, then people could still keep their jobs

while preventing the extinction of sharks. Upon researching the countries involved in CITES I

found it interesting that China and Costa Rica are a part of CITES yet Taiwan is not. They all
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engage in shark finning and disobey the rules. This is disappointing as you would expect

countries apart of this group to uphold their promises, yet they do anything but that. It’s known

that China and Costa Rice internationally trade their shark fins despite having many endangered

shark species meaning they are disobeying CITES. The purpose of CITES is to prevent the

extinction of animals due to international trade (CITES). We should not only encourage

countries to join CITES but ensure that the countries apart of it are upholding their part of the

agreement. The adoption of a country to CITES includes the addition of laws to prevent illegal

trade in order to save animals. While these laws are present in countries like China, they are not

enforcing them for the reasons listed previously. Plus, laws do not always work as expected as

they can have unintended consequences. In Costa Rica, the government required that sharks must

be brought back with their fins at public docks. In response to this, private companies built their

own private docks and continued their illegal practices (Simpson 2011). I’m not against the

establishment of laws to save sharks but the implications of them need to be heavily considered

to mitigate unintended consequences. They also need to be regularly reviewed to ensure they are

working as intended, and if not must be altered to attain the goal in mind. A great example of this

comes from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). It’s important to save our endangered species

but the law also encourages the killing of them. It’s known as “shoot, shovel, and shut up” where

people kill endangered species on their land to avoid the government claiming their land or

preventing them from developing on it (Seasholes 2007). I am in no way in favor of the killing of

America’s endangered species but unfortunately people are selfish and act in their own interest to

preserve what they want. This example is just to display how laws with good intentions don’t

always have good or perfect outcomes like Milton Friedman would say. While I believe that the
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Endangered Species Act is more beneficial than detrimental, it just shows how the unexpected

can occur as people react to new laws imposed upon them.

I believe the best solution could be to change the public perception of shark finning in

areas where it is common. Shark fin soup is deeply engrained into Asian society and people keep

eating it because they are just maintaining the status quo. When Gordon Ramsay asks people in

Asian restaurants why they eat it the most common answer is that it is a delicacy and that their

ancestors ate it (Simpson 2011). It’s interesting how everyone is so secretive about sharks and

where they get them from. They either refuse to talk to Gordon, ask to stop recording, or kick

him out. Even when investigating the boats, the dockhands lie saying they have tuna when they

are obviously shark boats. This implies everyone including the people working within the

industry known what they are doing is wrong but are not willing to give up their jobs for what is

right. It reminds me of the coal industry in some sense. It could also be that the public perception

of shark was changed after the release of Jaws. Before the release of the movie, little was known

about sharks. After release, people believed sharks were the bullies of the sea and targeted

humans. People thought that sharks were detrimental to the public and needed to be killed so that

killing them was a good thing (Francis 2012).

When Gordon met in London’s Chinatown with leaders in the restaurant industry and he

showed them just how inhumane the industry is four out five restaurants pulled shark fin soup

from their menu (Simpson 2011). As well as that people should boycott places that sell the soup

as a form of retaliation. Plus, I believe restaurants should be encouraged to use more than just the

fins in their foods. The fins account for roughly five percent of the shark (Simpson 2011) while

the rest of the body does not even make it out of the ocean. Why can’t the rest of the body be

used for its meat? That’s like harvesting a cow for only the filet mignon then chucking the rest. I
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believe using the whole shark would drive down the demand as it would be extremely more

efficient to utilize a whole shark rather than using it for just the fins. This would increase the

supply of sharks thereby lowering the demand causing less strain on shark populations. Also,

people need to call out the companies and people responsible for this to disassemble the system.

In the documentary, we discover the two largest shark fin processors in Costa Rica are owned by

Enrique Cruz, former major league baseball player. Gordon Ramsay reaches out to him only to

find out he refuses to let Gordon visit showing he knows what he is doing is wrong. Another

thing to benefit shark populations could be the establishment of international policy. Part of the

problem comes from the fact that sharks are global and so it is up to the countries they live near

to protect them. It’s predicted that the establishment of protected areas and implementation of

habitat management plans can significantly increase shark populations along with shark finning

regulations (Techera 2011). This is already being done in parts of the Pacific such as the

Marshall Islands. The establishment of “shark sanctuaries” are enabling shark populations to

regenerate (Clark et al. 2013). Some places are even going more extreme in pursuit of protecting

sharks. Hawaii is the forerunner of shark conservation and beside having many marine protected

areas for sharks, outlawed shark fishing January 1st, of 2022 (State of Hawaii 2021).

Areas of uncertainty, gaps in information/evidence, and questions for further research-

Despite the amount of technology we possess today there is still little known about the world’s

oceans and the animals that inhabit it. It is known that only twenty precent of the ocean has been

explored to this day (Petsko 2020). It’s wild to think how we have more photos and maps of our

moon and planets in our solar system than of our own oceans on Earth. This causes a discrepancy

in information as it is very difficult to obtain data from the ocean. (Feldheim et al. 2001) says

that very little is known about most shark’s reproduction patterns and life history. This is an
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issue as without information on sharks and where and how they spawn policy cannot be made to

try and save them. It is biological guesswork as to what we think they do as opposed to what they

actually do. This is a major reason behind a lack of government regulation. When no evidence is

present governments do not know which areas to protect and manage so they choose to do

nothing (Petsko 2020). Perhaps, another explanation as to lack of regulation could be since we

cannot see what is in the ocean less policy is applied sort of like an out of sight out of mind

mindset. Going forward, I believe a lot more time and resources needs to be dedicated to

studying shark species. We need to learn how each species is disproportionately being affected

by the shark fin industry and what places need the most protection to ensure their survival. It is

also a matter of collaborating with other countries since sharks can be found on every continent

except Antarctica. While one country can put in the effort, others can slack and so it is necessary

to encourage them to conserve their native species as the loss of sharks in our ecosystems affects

the entire planet. One last thing, in terms of uncertainty more analysis needs to be performed on

the effectiveness of policy. While extensive studies are performed to evaluate the effects of laws

and regulations in developed countries such as the United States, this occurs less or not at all in

third world countries. We need to ensure that the money going into conservation efforts is

worthwhile and positively impacting shark populations. If they are, then we should be

encouraging other countries to adapt these practices. It will be interesting to see how Hawaii’s

shark fishing ban will affect the native shark species and perhaps shark fishing will become

outlawed in more states.

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