Shark fins - original image from www.sharkdiver.com
I read a good article yesterday from Trip Atlas that listed 10 most controversial foods around the world. Not suprisingly one of the entrants in the lists was shark’s fin soup, and this got me thinking about the moral issues surrounding our choice of diet, and indeed our wider perception of the place of humans in the global ecosystem.
Traditionally consumed in China at special occasions or among the wealthy, shark fin soup is considered a delicacy. The rapidly rising middle class in China’s billion-plus population has been responsible for a soaring demand in shark fin soup, and this has been reflected in the number of sharks slaughtered to meet this demand. Shark numbers have shown a rapid decline in recent decades, with figures of up to 90% according to some sources.
Of all animals that form part of the human diet, the shark is one of the most inefficiently used. Sharks are typically hunted only for their fins, which means that once the fin is sliced off the living animal the fatally wounded shark is thrown back into the sea to die a slow death. Over 100 million sharks are killed in this way every year to meet the demand of this huge market, not only in Asia but across the world.
So how should we feel about this, as non-shark-eating westerners? Is it any of our business? Do we just not understand the culture? Should we look at the barbaric practices that are present in our own food production chains before we criticise others?
I have an instinctive revulsion to the practice of shark finning. I can accept the desire of people to eat meat (I am a happy carnivore myself). But I would like to think that when an animal is slaughtered for its meat, there are four basic considerations:
1. The animal has been allowed to live a dignified life in a natural state.
2. The animal is killed in the least distressing fashion.
3. As much of the animal is utilised (meat, skin, fur, bones) and not wasted.
4. Animals are reared in a sustainable way, to ensure that we are no longer killing species to extinction.
We know that with sharks, while the first point here is true, the other three are certainly not.
I would choose not to eat shark’s fin soup. Being aware of the way a shark is killed to produce this dish makes me uneasy about eating it. I know many others who feel the same way. I recently asked a friend who is of Chinese origin whether there was any sort of animal rights concerns that people in China might have regarding the treatment of sharks. He just laughed at me, and said that most people don’t care about where their meat/fish comes from. The implication was that animals are here to serve human needs, pure and simple.
In general, the more black and white I feel about an issue, the more I feel I haven’t understood the other side of the argument. And this is how I feel about this. I can’t see a justification for the killing of sharks in this way. Am I missing something?
For example, let’s look closer to home. If we consider western food production, are our practices any better? Keeping farm animals in tiny cages, pumping them with unnatural substances that are detrimental to their health, just so that they can taste better to us when we kill them? The EU and North America are far from pure here and we can be accused of hypocrisy if we turn a blind eye to our own mistreatment while condemning others’ actions.
So to the original question, should we be outraged? On the one hand there is no defence for the cruel slaughter of hundreds of millions of sharks for something that is served as a delicacy. But if we adopt the moral high ground, surely we must also examine our own food chain, and be honest enough to acknowledge the areas where we are equally inhumane in our pursuit of the tastiest foods.
Really excellent piece. If you travel to China for work, especially Taiwan you will, I have no doubt be offered shark fin soup at some point. It was once served up to me three times in one day. There was no choice – it is considered a great delicacy. To refuse on moral grounds in this situation is tricky to say the least. For me the practice of killing sharks for their fins is deplorable and as a matter of choice I have never eaten it on subsequent non-working visits to China. But that said, coming from the UK, I also choose not to eat cod. Not because of the way its processed or caught but because it is being fished to extinction by Europeans who refuse to eat other forms of more plentiful white fish, mainly for the mundane reason of ‘sticking to what you know’. Now sharks are majestic creatures compared to the humble cod but as your post so rightly points out, its hard to be outraged about the declining numbers of one species off foreign shores when another no less valuable species is being decimated on our doorsteps.
I am a shark fisherman in Florida. We sell the meat and fins. If a shark species is well regulated why shouldn’t I be able to sell the fins as well as the meat? If illegal finning is stopped why shouldn’t I get a better price for my legally caught fins?
Thanks Joe. It’s a delicate balance between taking a moral stance and offending hosts, and I suspect that like you, I would have eaten what was put in front of me by my hosts and kept my views to myself.
Good point about cod; and honestly I can’t see why the fuss about its taste. Thankfully the alternatives are now becoming commonplace.
I don’t know much about the background of shark hunting, but am interested in what other people have to say about it.
I have a Taiwanese background so I’ve been served shark fin soup on many occasions (pretty much every celebratory dinner / dinner with guests from out of town), and never really understood why it’s so popular. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “oh I’m really craving shark fin soup” or “mmm… shark fin is so good.” If anything, it seems as though it’s ordered as a way to show guest appreciation – ironic considering many guests probably feel obligated to eat it even though they don’t want to just to show host appreciation.
Wow. You really need to look into animal factory farms and how animals are “raised” for consumption in this country. Four of your “four basic considerations” are either completely misinformed or completely naive.
I don’t turn down a lot of food when traveling as I know it is an insult to the people of the culture, but I would turn down shark fin soup in a heart beat in China if offered to make a point and I wouldn’t care about offending. Just like I would turn down a gorilla paw or ground tiger bone somewhere else. It is extremely cruel the way that they kill the shark. To throw it back in the water alive to die a slow death is disgusting. Let people know that we don’t agree and maybe we will reach at least one person who will think twice about killing animals for parts or because it is a delicacy. Like killing the tiger for “medicinal purposes” in enrages me.
It is a good debate and I agree that we have to think about the way that all animals are killed everywhere. The way chickens are raised in Canada disgusts me. I see these windowless barns all over the countryside beside giant homes of people getting rich off of the suffering of animals. I know that they are being crushed in tiny cages.
Over the years people have started speaking out that, and changes are slowly occurring and we have choices of free range products now. Growing up I didn’t think twice about the food I was eating because I didn’t know any better. It was over time that people started protesting and raising awareness that all of us started thinking about what we were eating. So we have a right to raise awareness for the shark too.
Plus I agree that we should be using all of the animal not just a part of it for a delicacy. Humans are omnivorous and we have a right to eat meat. If we would follow the rules of your four points above the world would be a better place. But humans are a barbaric bunch and we will keep slaughtering and consuming everything until we run out all our resources.
Moi Moi, many thanks for your comment. I absolutely agree with you regarding the factory farms in the UK, US and elsewhere. This is the point of my post: can we (in the west) make a moral stance against one practice when we are so guilty of our own failings? My four basic considerations are wishes, but I certainly don’t believe (and never suggested) that they are part of our meat production system.
Dave and Deb, thanks as always for your thoughts. I think that many of us are now looking more closely at how our meat arrives at our plates. But money still talks, and while a shop is able to put a $3 chicken on the supermarket shelves, especially in these hard times, not enough people are asking the question of how it can be raised, processed and packaged for such a low price. As for the shark, I would love to hear any examples of where the rest of the meat has been used for other purposes. An interesting debate…
Andy,
This goes wider than food. I’d rather not comment of the cultural practices of others; as a traveler I take the rough with the smooth. The practice of killing sharks for their fins is disgusting, so is the general treatment of animals across parts of the far-east. I wouldn’t eat it on these grounds. I’d like you all to ponder a separate thought, which puts our issue into a separate context.
If it is wrong to intervene in a country (Iraq, Afghanistan) is it therefore not also wrong to tell such countries to reform their human rights practices, something we continue to do?
For many, the suffering of animals is irrelevant; they are beasts of burden, not humans. But we should not expect other cultures to homogenize their practices to pander to Western sensibilities. If, like me, you have issue with shark fin soup, don’t order it, but equally don’t expect this will make any difference: the practice will continue.
The difference between chickens and cows vs sharks is that sharks are not a farmed animal. Like all fish they are taken out of a commons and there is no incentive for anyone to restrict their harvesting because no one owns the resource.
China also has some culture issues they have to deal with in terms of endangered species. Harvesting rare animals for Chinese folk remides (tigers, rhinos, seahorses, bears, etc) is probably the greatest threat to endangered mega fauna in the world.
The shark fin soup thing is just a part of this larger problem.
Mark, is there any culture that can lecture another about their food practices? Ours certainly can’t and while I haven’t yet heard a single defence for shark finning, I agree with you that one culture shouldn’t expect another to change to its view of the world. But if we do have outrage for this practice, let’s channel it into improving the way things are done in our own part of the world.
Gary, you’ve summed it up well. There’s little governance of the open oceans, so it becomes a free-for-all with no regard to sustainability or animal dignity. And like you say, the issue of killing bears, tigers and other rare beasts for medicine production places the sharks as just a part of a bigger animal problem. But to stop the poaching of these species is impossible without reducing the demand for these ‘products’. And that’s a way bigger issue than just the sharks…
No answers, but a very interesting discussion. Thanks guys.
I personally chose not to eat certain foods including shark fin soup because of the reasons you mentioned. As much as I disagree with the practices of others I don’t think outrage is an effective response. I think it should be more about education and awareness.
I also disagree with all the Hummers and other super-sized vehicles that are so popular in North America. However, I can’t be “outraged” every time I see a driver of one of these vehicles.
I think my feelings are more of sadness. How can people live with such a disregard for other people and animals? I know I am also guilty, air travel is a big one so I can’t judge others so black and white.
I just hope more people increase awareness of these issues like you have.
While I deplore the practice of stripping sharks and rays of their fins, often leaving the animals to die in the shallows, as a western society we have to consider what our tastes dictate. How many righteously enraged readers have pets? What are those pets eating? Don’t fool yourself into thinking that pet food is just using up scrap. It is a multi billion dollar industry that drives poor fishermen to extreme levels in order to participate for the lucrative dollar.
I was thrilled to read this post. Thank you for spreading the word!!!
The sharks are endangered, and what most people don’t seem to realize is that without the sharks, the ocean would get totally messed up and eventually human beings will be in A LOT of trouble for our own survival. The sharks are incredibly important for the ocean!
What scares me the most is that there is a new “myth” in Asia that shark fins can heal and prevent cancer (this because sharks can’t get cancer), and there is so much money in the whole business.
Frankly, I’m quite terrified to what’s going on. And like you mentioned, they’re killed in the most horrific ways, they just cut the fin off and throw them back in the ocean again
It is NOT OK to eat shark’s fin soup or buy shark teeth or any of all that stuff.
It really upsets me to hear of animals being used so wastefully. I have no problem eating shark in itself. My husband caught one and brought it home yesterday. We cut it up into steaks, ate half for dinner, froze the other half for another dinner for the six of us, boiled the head, tail, and fins and fed those to the chickens and dog.The chickens will produce eggs and eventually go in the stew pot. The dog keeps the chickens from getting eaten by coyotes. The entire animal was used. It is not dificult to use these animals efficiently. My question is, why not feed the meat of the sharks caught to all the hungry and starving people out there? It is quite tasty and it was already in the boat!
Very interesting and well reasoned discussion. From my perspective there are many abuses in the equation of feeding the population and prevailing culture of each country. Who can forget the hidden videos of sick cattle being dragged and fork lifted to their final end in US kill houses??
Like an above poster, I do find a significant difference in animals that are “farmed” for their meat and meat products, and those killed to the point of extinction in the wild for any reason. A cultural practice simply cannot be allowed to eliminate any species from the earth.
The practice of killing sharks for shark fin soup is a pure example of how Chinese and other cultures disregard nature for stupid customs and beliefs. Just like they kill rhinos for horns, etc. If they really need to eat shark fins, then they should be farming them. To compare the slaughtering of sharks to the poor conditions of chicken farming is no comparison. Chickens are bred and grown for consumption. They do not roam free in the wild. Killing sharks for soup is as bad as the Japanese killing whales in the name of science, or killing dolphins for food. If you farm something, then you can do what you want., as long as it does not affect others or the environment.
Another person mentioned that we should not force our opinions on other cultures; the only problem with that logic is that the oceans are for everybody. Nobody has a right to strip the earth of natural resources for short-term profits. If killing sharks was banned, I do not think anyone would loose sleep over it.
Great post Andy, was going to write something on this myself. I feel very strongly that the shark fin trade is a cruel, abhorrent one which should most definitely be open to pressure from the rest of the world to end it.
No culture has the right to be barbaric – whether to animals or other humans – and we all, as users of this planet, have a responsibility to protect its inhabitants, regardless whether it’s happening over another country’s border.
I would never eat shark’s fin soup, even if that gesture caused offence. The practice of obtaining and eating it offends me more!
I’m a vegetarian who occasionally eats (sustainably sourced) fish (so a pescetarian, really) and I’m a member of the organisation ‘Compassion in World Farming’ (http://www.ciwf.org.uk/). I feel very strongly that if animals are going to be eaten by humans, they at least have the right to a pain free end and a dignified and happy life.
While factory farming in the UK leaves a LOT to be desired, there are at least legislations in place to purportedly protect farmed animals (though the reason I still don’t eat free range meat is because for most animals, the end is pretty terrifying with incompetents and sadists doing the killing, and even free-range animals often have immense suffering at the slaughterhouse). China has no such welfare laws, on any level, that protect animals and as sentient beings for the most part, we really should be doing more to change this.
And we can change it, if we care enough. Obviously, by never accepting to eat it (and definitely not buy it in restaurants) is a start. It actually wasn’t until fairly recently that shark finning was banned in UK waters, believe it or not (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/11/uk-shark-finning-ban-extinct), although its hardly ever been a delicacy here.
But I still feel we should look to our own practices before judging others. While fois gras, for example, is banned from being made in the UK because it is so extremely cruel to produce, there are many places to buy it, whether the local deli or a top end French restaurant.
Hopefully, the people who feel strongly about not eating shark’s fin would feel equal as strongly about opposing the production of fois gras, as well as veal (and why not look to France then, as well as China, for other examples of disgusting ways of putting food on our plates. As if we haven’t enough choice of food already, do we really need these ‘delicacies’?).
Very well put Andrea. There are reasons to look at ourselves, and then there are absolute wrongs. I haven’t heard any defence of shark finning, except rebuffing attacks by its defenders of western farming practices, which is no defence at all. I suspect there are huge cultural shifts that have to take place before our stances of principle have any effect on the world’s shark (or goose) population. And in the case of the sharks, that will probably come too late…