Shark fin soup is a delicacy that originated centuries ago in China. The soup has been a symbol of affluence as it was originally served to Chinese royalty. One bowl can cost as much as $100.
While shark fins give the soup its gelatinous texture, they are flavorless, requiring chicken or fish broth to give the soup flavor. Shark fins were believed to boost sexual potency, increase qi (energy), prevent heart disease and cancer and lower cholesterol, although no medical evidence exists to support these claims.
In fact, shark fins & meat contain high concentrations of BMAA (beta-Methylamino-l-alanine), a neurotoxin which causes degenerative brain diseases and methylmercury, high levels of which can cause neurological damage.
Demand for this soup has fueled the multi-million dollar shark fin industry and is responsible for many of the estimated 73 million sharks killed every year. Hong Kong, along with Malaysia, Singapore and China account for 90% of global shark fin imports.[1] While the major suppliers of shark fins include: Indonesia, Spain, India, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brazil, there are more than 100 countries involved in the shark fin trade.
A study published in 2017 analyzing fins in the Hong Kong markets identified fins from 71 different species of sharks, one third of which were listed in threatened categories by the IUCN.[2] While consumption of shark fin soup has fallen by about 80% in China, there is an alarming rise in consumption in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Macau.[3]
While Covid-19 has taken a toll on world economies, the shark fin industry is flourishing. In May 2020, customs officials in Hong Kong made the biggest shark fin seizure in Hong Kong’s history: 26 tons of fins, contained in two shipping containers from Ecuador, cut from the bodies of 38,500 endangered sharks and worth about $8.6 million.[4] In Indonesia, many people who have lost work due to the pandemic have returned to the shark fin industry.[5]
Sharks are being removed from the ocean at a rate 30% faster than they are able to reproduce resulting in 25% of shark species considered threatened with extinction.
[1] Xiang, Yap Wan. “Malaysia Is The World’s Second Largest Shark Fin Importer Outranking Singapore And China.” SAYS, September 18, 2019. https://says.com/my/news/after-hong-kong-malaysia-is-world-biggest-importer-of-shark-fin.
[2] Fields, Andrew T., Gunter A. Fischer, Stanley K. H. Shea, Huarong Zhang, Debra L. Abercrombie, Kevin A. Feldheim, Elizabeth A. Babcock, and Demian D. Chapman. “Species Composition of the International Shark Fin Trade Assessed through a Retail‐Market Survey in Hong Kong.” Society for Conservation Biology. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, December 15, 2017. https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.13043.
[3] Hermesauto, “Even as China Says No to Shark Fin Soup, Dish Gaining Popularity Elsewhere in Asia,” The Straits Times (Washington Post, February 15, 2018), https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/even-as-china-says-no-to-shark-fin-soup-dish-gaining-popularity-elsewhere-in-asia.
[4] Hong Kong customs and Excise department – Press release. (2010, June 18). Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.customs.gov.hk/en/publication_press/press/index_id_2906.html
[5] McDonald, J. (2020, September 06). Why is the SHARK-FIN trade buoyant even as COVID-19 Sinks economy? Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3100326/why-shark-fin-trade-buoyant-while-covid-19-sinks-global-economy