{"id":25264,"date":"2023-06-15T10:49:27","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T14:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oceana.org\/?p=25264"},"modified":"2025-04-29T14:03:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:03:31","slug":"sharks-under-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oceana.org\/blog\/sharks-under-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks Under Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The global trade endangering the ocean\u2019s top predators <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When a policy advisor from a United States Representative\u2019s office arrived at Oceana headquarters in Washington D.C. the evening of the December Board Reception, he wasn’t just there to socialize. Instead, he delivered big news, fresh from Capitol Hill to Oceana\u2019s Vice President of the U.S., Beth Lowell and her team. It was official: After years of campaigning by Oceana and its allies, the U.S. was exiting the global shark fin trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading up to the announcement, reports about whether the ban on the shark fin trade \u2014 officially known as the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act<\/a> \u2014 would be included in the soon-to-be-approved National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) changed by the day. Lowell and her team, who campaigned for this goal for nearly seven years, wanted to see the text with their own eyes. So, after the reception, they escaped to an empty local bar and scrolled the 879-page NDAA document<\/a> on their phones to find the bill. \u201cThere it was,\u201d Lowell remembers. \u201cIt felt like a scene from a movie.\u201d Two weeks later, President Biden signed the act into law. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Often considered apex predators, sharks keep populations in check and the environment in balance. \u00a9 Oceana\/Carlos Suarez<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The U.S. has played an important role in the shark fin trade, even after the United States outlawed shark finning \u2014 the cruel practice of cutting off a shark\u2019s fins and throwing it back into the water to face certain death \u2014 and required that sharks be landed with their fins attached (an earlier Oceana victory). Fins from as many as 73 million sharks<\/a> end up in the global shark fin market every year. And, until now, shark fins were still legally bought and sold in many U.S. states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlmost two decades of work at Oceana has focused on protecting sharks,\u201d Lowell says. Oceana\u2019s campaigns have targeted shark finning \u2014 the biggest threat to shark populations\u2019 survival. Just as the demand for ivory horns and tusks endangered rhinos and elephants, the shark fin trade endangers sharks. Nine of the top 10 shark species in the fin trade are at risk<\/a> of extinction.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Oceana and its allies successfully campaigned to ban the import and export of shark fins in Canada, becoming the first G20 nation to do so. The U.S. is now joining Canada. The new law will not only protect millions of sharks in U.S. waters; its effects will be felt worldwide. Yet this victory is hardly the end of the story. A pervasive and fraught trade for shark fins \u2014 as well as shark meat and other products \u2014 persists across the planet. And it poses a threat to sharks, ecosystems, and everyone who relies on healthy oceans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the global shark fin trade<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sharks have been around for over 400 million years<\/a>, even longer than trees. Today over 450 species<\/a> of sharks roam the world\u2019s oceans, from the shortfin mako shark<\/a> that can swim as fast as 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) per hour and traverse entire oceans,<\/a> to the graceful, slow-moving whale shark<\/a> that eventually can reach the size of a school bus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharks are not just an incredible assortment of species; they play a pivotal part in ocean ecosystems. Often considered apex predators, sharks keep populations in check and the environment in balance. \u201cThe oceans need healthy shark populations,\u201d reminds Gib Brogan, Campaign Director at Oceana. Compared to other fish, sharks grow slowly and only have a few young at a time. These biological factors work in favor of the food chain, but they make sharks especially vulnerable to overfishing. Over one-third<\/a> of sharks and rays are threatened with extinction, mostly due to overfishing.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While popular movies like \u201cJaws\u201d have shaped the public imagination by depicting sharks as bloodthirsty monsters, it\u2019s humans who endanger sharks, not the other way around. Globally, oceanic shark and ray populations have declined over the past 50 years by as much as 70%, according to a 2021 study<\/a> in Nature. <\/em>Sharks are often fished for their fins, and fins are primarily used for one thing: a sought-after delicacy known as \u201cshark fin soup.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shark fin soup has long symbolized status and wealth in East Asia, tracing back over a thousand years to ancient emperors. Essentially chewy cartilage, the shark fins themselves are tasteless; it\u2019s the broth that gives the soup its flavor. According to Chinese tradition, the fins offer health benefits. But recent studies have found fins contain mercury and methylmercury<\/a>, making them unsafe for human consumption.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is the world\u2019s top consumer<\/a> of shark fin soup, despite decreasing demand over the past decade. Demand for the soup remains strong in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, and is increasingly popular in other parts of Asia including Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, according to a 2018 report.<\/a> Dried fins are stocked on market shelves, while soup is served at restaurants, weddings, and events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shark fin soup may not be on most menus in the United States, but the U.S. still exports shark fins to Hong Kong and China. Until now, exporting the fins has been legal; the Shark Finning Prohibition Act passed in 2000 banned shark finning in U.S. waters, not the trade of fins with other countries. From 2016 to 2022, the U.S. imported over 200,000 kg of shark fins worth nearly $1.7 million and exported over 300,000 kg of shark fins worth $4.1 million. That\u2019s according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) foreign trade data<\/a> \u2013 the number could be higher given unreported activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already illegal to cut off the sharks\u2019 fins, so it shouldn\u2019t be legal to sell them either,\u201d reasons U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-TX, championed and co-sponsored the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act in the House of Representatives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCaul and his wife Linda, an oceanographer and philanthropist, have gone swimming with sharks \u2014 an experience that reinforced to McCaul that the animals are \u201cclearly misunderstood\u201d and misrepresented in threatening media depictions. A documentary opened his eyes to the cruelty of the fin trade.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI took up the bill after Rep. Ed Royce [R-CA] \u2014 who first introduced it back in 2017 \u2014 retired,\u201d McCaul recalls. \u201cBy that point, Texas had already banned the fin trade, but our federal highways could still be used to traffic fins through the state. So I knew it was up to Congress to eradicate this gruesome practice from our nation.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Del. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, D-MP, co-sponsored the bill in the House. Meanwhile, Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Sen. Shelley Capito, R-WV, introduced the bill multiple times in the Senate and were essential to its success. As a result of the bipartisan effort, the U.S. will no longer participate in the trade, which involves countries on nearly every continent.<\/p>\n\n\n

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