Shark Fin Soup – Big Deal?

With the Chinese New Year celebrations raging around Thailand, tourists are flocking to Phuket and Bangkok’s Chinatown to watch the parades. I can only imagine how much shark fin soup is eaten at this time of year.

Shark Fin Soup in Bangkok

So what’s the big deal about shark fin soup? Does a bowl of soup really pose such a threat to the survival of sharks? The answer is yes, it really does. Beause of the popularity of the soup, especially among Japanese and Chinese, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year. And it is only the fin that is eaten in most cases. It takes many years for sharks to reach maturity so there is no way they can recover as long as this continues. Shark fin soup is served for 800 to 5,000 Baht in Thailand, depending on the shark fin’s grade, or size. These prices make them popular among fishermen and has resulted in indiscriminate killing wherever they can find them in order to satisfy the market. And also because of the high profits involved almost all sharks are killed only for their fins. Often they are hoisted out of the water only to have their fins cut off while they are still alive. Then they are thrown back into the ocean to slowly die. Take a look at this video: httpv://youtu.be/mCqPXhhxZIg Although many consider it a delicacy and claim there are health benefits to eating sharks, no studies supports this. In fact it is barely fit for humans to eat with very high levels of mercury and low nutritional value. Sharks are at the top of the food chain, if they are removed from the ocean the entire eco-system Will break down. Sharks have been around for 400 million years. Are we going to let them die out because some ignorant people want to eat shark fin soup?