Why Sharks Matter by David Shiffman

Author:David Shiffman [Shiffman, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Shark Finning Bans

Recall that shark finning refers exclusively to the act of cutting the fins of a shark off at sea and discarding the carcass at sea. If a shark’s carcass is brought to shore, that shark has not technically been finned, even if the fins are later removed and sold. Lots of photos of dead sharks like the one on page 144 go viral on social media accompanied by the caption “Stop shark finning.” However, the photo clearly shows shark carcasses on land, which means this is not shark finning, and stopping shark finning would not stop this.

The policy measures which have been designed to address the inhumane and wasteful practice of shark finning come in two primary forms: a fin to carcass weight ratio and a fins naturally attached policy.

Fin to carcass ratios allow fishers to remove shark fins from carcasses at sea. Fishers’ argument in support of this practice include that shark fins are quite rigid and it’s hard to stack entire shark carcasses, so removing the fins makes it easier to store more sharks in a cargo hold. You may think this sounds an awful lot like shark finning, but the key difference is that the carcasses aren’t discarded. The fins and carcasses are stored separately on board, and both are brought to shore, or landed, with the goal that the carcasses are also sold and used (though this isn’t required everywhere). The ratio is supposed to keep fishers honest by ensuring that the total weight of fins landed isn’t more than a particular ratio of the total weight of carcasses landed. Usually that ratio is 5%, as in, for every 100 pounds of shark carcasses landed, you can land 5 pounds of fins.

There are a few problems with the concept of fin to carcass ratios. First and foremost, not every shark’s biology is such that its fins make up 5% of its weight, which can allow for some cheating. Also, when fishers catch a shark, they often don’t just put the whole body in the hold: they may gut or bleed it or cut off the head, which further messes with the carcass weight. Another troublesome phenomenon is called high grading, wherein fishers can swap in more valuable fins from one species and more valuable meat from another species. While they’re technically landing the correct ratio of fins to carcass, the truth is that they killed a lot more sharks than are being landed. If while playing a video game you’ve ever dropped less-valuable loot on the ground in favor of storing more-valuable loot instead of making the trek back to town to sell what you have, you understand high grading.

These sharks are definitely dead, and their fins may end up in the fin trade, but they were not “finned.” Courtesy of Ron Waddington, Wikimedia Commons

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