By Sara Sass*

The Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016 “makes it illegal to possess, buy, sell, transport, or trade shark fins or any product containing shark fins. A person may possess a shark fin that was lawfully taken consistent with a license or permit under certain circumstances.”[1] Introduced in House in June 2016 and forwarded to the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, this bill addresses the overwhelming consumption of sharkfin to the extent that 100 million sharks are killed annually for south Asian specialty sharkfin soup[2].

Sharkfin soup is traditionally eaten to impress guests and was a staple aristocratic dish during China’s 17th century Ming dynasty.[3] Today it can be found on menus in luxurious Chinese and Vietnamese weddings and banquets.[4] Mainland China’s emerging middle class can afford expensive dishes now, when a decade and a half ago sharkfin would’ve been a financial splurge. This emerging wealthy taste is reflected in the import of 10,300 metric tons of sharkfin into China from Hong Kong in 2011.[6] One bowl of soup can sell for $100 or more, and sharkfin is cut into strips for the soup.[7] Sharkfin is largely tasteless however, and so the soup’s taste comes from the chicken broth and Chinese red vinegar.[8]

 

The soup’s impact needs no added ingredient to pack a punch. The New York Times reports that “according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, nearly a third of shark species assessed are at risk of extinction because of overfishing.”[9] According to National Geographic, analysis of life data from 62 shark species found “that only 4.9% of sharks can be killed each year to maintain population stability. Anything more than that threatens long term survival of species…What’s worse, sharks are considered uniquely vulnerable because they take long periods to mature and generally produce few young over their lifetimes.”[10] Currently, 1.5 million sharks are killed per week, which is far beyond the 4.9% sustainably threshold and endangers the 126 out of 460 “threatened with extinction” shark species.[11]

 

Sharkfinning is a process where fishermen cut off fins from sharks while alive. The finless shark is thrown overboard to either sink to the bottom, and thus suffocate, or be eaten by other predators.[12] In the United States, sharks are protected under the 2016 Shark Conservation Act.[13] Sharkfinning is prohibited in the United States since sharks are required to come to shore with their fins “naturally attached.”[14] Currently, no federal preventative exists for the importation of sharkfin from abroad for culinary use. The Animal Welfare Institute compiles a list of U.S. restaurants that serve sharkfin soup, with dozens listed across all fifty states.[15] The high price of sharkfin soup, up to $100 a bowl with a pound of sharkfin selling for $300, makes restaurants eager to keep it on their menus.[16] TIME spoke to Alvin Leung, owner of Bo-Innovation, a two Michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong, who said about sharkfin: “It’s like champagne. You don’t open a bottle of Coke to celebrate. It’s a ritual.”[17]

 

This “ritual” involves black market transport, with sharkfin ranked in Finance Degree Center’s top black market items.[18] Although sharkfin is officially banned in California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Delaware, Oregon, Washington and New York due to their respective legislatures passing a ban[19], the black market for it still thrives. For example, sharkfin soup in sharkfin ban state California is still served in at least thirty-three restaurants from San Francisco to Sacramento.[20] With the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016, U.S. legislation focuses on the illegality of those who “possess, buy, sell, transport, or trade shark fins or any product containing shark fins.”[21] From restaurants selling sharkfin soup, to the black market transporters who hide sharkfin in cargo vessels that are beyond the reach of the U.S. finning laws,[22] this bill would encompass the entire sharkfin trade of the U.S and make it effectively illegal. Additionally, since the bill is a federal one it will enable federal agencies to handle any violations.[23] The Act will also likely inspire U.S. restaurants and groceries to eliminate or sell sharkfin inventories, like the New York ban did to New York grocery Po Wing Hong.[24] So the Act’s effective ban on sharkfin import will likely drive the cost of sharkfin down due to a supply increase of emptied inventories into the market, but this may not stop sharkfin from being profitable elsewhere.

*The views expressed by the author are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of her employer.

[1] H.R. 5584, 114th Cong. (2016), available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5584.

[2] Dan Stone, “100 million Sharks Killed Every Year Study Shows on Eve of International Conference on Shark Protection”, National Geographic, Mar. 1, 2013, available at https://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/01/100-million-sharks-killed-every-year-study-shows-on-eve-of-international-conference-on-shark-protection/.

[3] Bonnie Tsui, “Souring on Sharkfin Soup”, The New York Times, Jun. 29, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/souring-on-shark-fin-soup.html.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Krista Mahr, “Shark-fin Soup and the Conservation Challenge”, Time, Aug. 9, 2010, https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021071,00.html.

[8] Krista Mahr, “Shark-fin Soup and the Conservation Challenge”, Time, Aug. 9, 2010, https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021071,00.html; Bonnie Tsui, “Souring on Sharkfin Soup”, The New York Times, Jun. 29, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/souring-on-shark-fin-soup.html.

[9] Bonnie Tsui, “Souring on Sharkfin Soup”, The New York Times, Jun. 29, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/souring-on-shark-fin-soup.html.

[10] Dan Stone, “100 million Sharks Killed Every Year Study Shows on Eve of International Conference on Shark Protection”, National Geographic, Mar. 1, 2013, available at https://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/01/100-million-sharks-killed-every-year-study-shows-on-eve-of-international-conference-on-shark-protection/.

[11] Krista Mahr, “Shark-fin Soup and the Conservation Challenge”, Time, Aug. 9, 2010, https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021071,00.html.

[12] Id.

[13] Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/06/29/2016-15413/magnuson-stevens-fishery-conservation-and-management-act-provisions-implementation-of-the-shark>.

[14] “Shark Conservation in the United States and Abroad”, NOAA Fisheries, < https://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2013/07/7_15_13shark_conservation_us_and_abroad.html>.

[15] “Restaurants Currently Offering Sharkfin Soup”, Animal Welfare Institute, < https://awionline.org/content/restaurants-currently-offering-shark-fin-soup#DistrictOfColumbia>.

[16] Krista Mahr, “Shark-fin Soup and the Conservation Challenge”, Time, Aug. 9, 2010, https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021071,00.html.

[17] Id.

[18] “What Sells on the Black Market?”, Finance Degree Center, https://www.financedegreecenter.com/black-market/ last visited Jan. 29, 2017.

[19] Michael Virtanen, “N.Y. law bans shark fin sales starting next summer”, USA TODAY, Jul. 26, 2013, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/26/ny-law-bans-shark-fin-sales/2590167/.

[20] “Restaurants Currently Offering Sharkfin Soup”, Animal Welfare Institute, https://awionline.org/content/restaurants-currently-offering-shark-fin-soup#California

[21] H.R. 5584, 114th Cong. (2016), available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5584.

[22] Krista Mahr, “Shark-fin Soup and the Conservation Challenge”, Time, Aug. 9, 2010, https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021071,00.html.

[23] Id.

[24] Eleanor Randolph, “Shark Fins or Champagne?”, NEW YORK TIMES, Aug. 3, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/shark-fins-or-champagne.html

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