Shark fin soup (or shark's fin soup) is a Cantonese cuisine delicacy commonly served as part of a Chinese feast, usually at special occasions such as weddings and banquets as a symbol of wealth and prestige. The "finning" of sharks required to make this soup has been highly controversial. Some have called the practice brutal, and it is also named as a primary contributing factor in the global decline of many shark species. China's booming economy has resulted in a large increase in demand for shark fins, and this, combined with the importance of this predator in oceanic ecosystems, has exacerbated the problems that the practice is said to perpetuate.

Soup

Genuine shark fin soup or stew is made with shark fins obtained from any of a variety of shark species. Raw shark fins are processed by first removing the skin, trimming them to shape, and thoroughly drying them. They may be bleached with hydrogen peroxide before drying to make their colour more appealing. Shark fins are the cartilaginous pectoral and dorsal fins of a shark. Shark's fins are sold in two forms - frozen and dried. Both need to be softened before they can be used to prepare soup. The frozen form is ready to use as it has been pre-prepared and therefore only requires about an hour of soaking. There are two types of the dried form, skinned (shredded) or un-skinned (whole) which require more preparation. {{cite web|title=Shark's Fin in Chinese Cooking|publisher=chinesefood-recipes.com|accessdaymonth=6 January |accessyear=2007|url=

Shark fins, in common with other costly east Asian delicacies such as Bird's nest soup and sea cucumber, have very little flavor of their own. Their appeal lies more in their texture and their ability to absorb flavors from other soup ingredients, and also for the simple fact of their expense.

There is an imitation version that is usually sold in cans that may be labelled as shark fin soup; it sells for around US$1.50 per bowl and does not contain shark fins, but is instead made of mung bean vermicelli shaped to resemble shark fins. It is not equivalent to genuine shark fin soup in either texture or colour. It is commonly served in chicken broth, with mushrooms and pork to enhance the texture and taste.

Market

Shark fin soup is a popular delicacy in China, and is eaten in Chinese restaurants around the world. A survey carried out in China in 2006 by WildAid and the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Association found that 35% of participants said they had consumed shark fin soup in the last year, In Hong Kong restaurants, where the market has traditionally been strong, demand from Hong Kong natives has reportedly dropped, but this has been more than balanced by an increase in demand from the Chinese mainland, as the economic growth of China has put this expensive delicacy within the reach of a growing middle class. Based on information gathered from the Hong Kong trade in fins, the market is estimated to be growing by 5% a year. The high price of the soup means that is often used as a way to impress guests or at celebrations, 58% of those questioned in the WWF survey said they ate the soup at a celebration or gathering.

A third of all fins imported to Hong Kong come from Europe. Norway supplies 39 metric tonnes, but Britain, France, Portugal and Italy are also major suppliers. Hong Kong handles at least 50% and possibly up to 80% of the world trade in shark fin, with the major suppliers being Europe, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen, India, Japan, and Mexico.

Controversy

According to wildlife conservationists, much of the trade in sharks' fins is derived from fins cut from living sharks; this process is called finning. Because shark meat is worth very little, the finless and often still-living sharks are thrown back into the sea to make room on board the ship for more of the valuable fins. When returned to the ocean, the finless sharks, unable to move, die from suffocation or are eaten by other sharks or animals.

However, according to Giam Choo Hoo, the longest serving member of the CITES Animals Committee, "The perception that it is common practice to kill sharks for only their fins - and to cut them off whilst the sharks are still alive - is wrong.... The vast majority of fins in the market are taken from sharks after their death."

Finning is vigorously opposed by animal welfare groups; both on moral grounds and also because it is listed as one of the causes for the rapid decline of global shark populations. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) lists three sharks in Appendix II: the basking shark, the great white shark and the whale shark. Appendix II lists those species that are not in danger of extinction, but which require controls on international trade to maintain their populations. It is estimated that 10–100 million sharks are slaughtered each year for their fins, with a median figure of 38 million. The industry is valued at US$1.2 billion; because of the lucrative profits, there are allegations of links to organized crime. They also raise questions on the medical harm from the consumption of high levels of toxic mercury reportedly found in shark fins.

Numbers of some shark species have dropped as much as 80% over the last 50 years. Some organizations claim that shark fishing or bycatch (the unintentional capture of species by other fisheries) is the reason for the decline in the populations of some species and that the market for fins has very little impact - bycatch accounts for an estimated 50% of all sharks taken Since many countries do not allow shark finning there is no reliable count for the numbers taken in the shark fin trade and thus it is hard to prove the claims on either side of the argument. Sharks are caught for their fins and meat all over the world.

According to Giam's article, "sharks are caught virtually all parts of the world. Despite the strongly declared objectives of the Fisheries Commission in Brussels, there are very few restrictions on fishing for sharks in European waters. The meat of dogfishes, smoothhounds, catsharks, skates and rays is in high demand by European consumers...The situation in Canada and the United States is similar: the blue shark is sought after as a sport fish while the porbeagle, mako and spiny dogfish are part of the commercial fishery...the truth is this: sharks will continue to be caught and killed on a wide scale by the more organized and sophisticated fishing nations...targeting shark's fin soup will not stop this accidental catch. The fins from these catches will be thrown away or turned into animal feed and fertilizers if shark's fin soup is shunned."

In countries such as Thailand and Singapore, public awareness advertisements on finning have reportedly reduced consumption by 25%. In Hong Kong, the oldest chain of restaurants specializing in shark fin soup has reportedly closed, citing lobbying by the animal rights groups as one of the main reasons.

New laws have been passed to prevent finning; though much of the international waters continue to be unregulated. The United States recently issued a ban on finning, applicable only to U.S.-registered vessels, even in U.S. territorial waters; and shark fins cannot be imported into the USA without entire carcasses. International fishing authorities are in the process of banning shark fishing (and finning) in the Atlantic ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Finning is banned in the Eastern Pacific, but shark fishing and finning continues unabated in the rest of the Pacific and Indian ocean.

Hong Kong Disneyland dropped the dish from its wedding banquet menu after international pressure from environmental groups, who threatened to boycott its parks worldwide despite the high demand for the delicacy in China. The University of Hong Kong has banned shark fin being served on campus. 97% of respondents in the WWF Seafood Awareness survey said if fish species were threatened they would stop eating them (39%) or reduce the amount they ate (58%).

NBA star Yao Ming pledged to stop eating shark fin soup at a news conference on August 2, 2006. Yao's comments were largely unreported in the Chinese media and drew a reproach from Chinese seafood industry associations. Ironically, one of the items on Yao Ming's wedding dinner menu was shark fin soup. Australian naturalist Steve Irwin was known to walk out of Chinese restaurants if he saw shark fin soup on the menu. US basketball player Tracy Lamar McGrady reportedly said that he was impressed by the soup when he tried it for the first time, but was criticized by the Hong Kong branch of the WWF for his remark. The Chinese-American chef, Ken Hom, sees double standards from the West, with little being done to protect stocks of cod and caviar-producing sturgeon while there is outcry over shark-finning, but he also stresses the wastefulness of harvesting only the fins.

On September 15, 2007, Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Ministry Azmi Khalid banned shark's fin soup from official function menus as commitment to the Malaysian Nature Society (for conservation of sharks species).

See also

* Cellophane noodles * Shark cartilage * Hoi sam * Bao yu * Buddha jumps over the wall