A bowl of shark fin soup, anyone?

Ummph...delicious. I especially like mine served with a little vinegar. I'm a chinese and I grew up with in a community where a bowl of shark fin is a luxury served only on special occasions and only for those who can afford. After watching Jaws I, I was terrified of "jaws" (didn't know its actual name was shark until I grew older) and paranoid about swimming in sea (you never know when one "jaw" is nearby).

Today, I find out that this soup is the reason many shark species are endangered or vulnerable. Some areas had lost as much as 95% of its population in the last fifteen years. I admit that I had read shark population was vulnerable a few years ago but I did not put much thought about it because the price of a small bowl is so expansive that it is a once-in-ablue-moon luxury. I only have this soup at some wedding functions and most of the time, the soup has more crab meat than shark fins. These days, some even serves vegetarian shark fin soup. Topping that was the notion that we were ridding the world of savages (still haunted by "Jaws"). So, seeing as to the rarity of my consumption, I was not overly ridden by guilt. Till now.

A CNN report state (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/08/knights.sharks/index.html) that although shark kills an average of ten person per year, human is killing 70 - 100 million sharks per year. So, which is more predacious, human or shark? The concern also lies on the fact that shark is top predator in the ocean. I admit I have not researched in details on the consequences of its declining population in the ocean but surely the rapid reduction of its population will disrupt the balance of the marine ecosystem. Previously, the demand for shark fin came mainly from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. These days, greater demands are coming from China as its number of middle class families increase. According to CNN, despite international and some national regulations, enforcement is weak. As such illegal shark finning still continues.

Due to limited space on the ships, the fishermen will just cut off its fins and throw the shark back into the ocean where it will drop sink to ocean bed and be eaten or nibbled by other marine life. There is much furore over the inhumane method of shark finning. So I guess for these people, as long as a humane method is used, the shark finning may go on. Maybe the fishermen should just catch them whole and like they do with other types of fish.

Personally, I do not think there is a humane method to kill another living being be they sharks or cows or chicken. However, I think the bigger issue is the unsustainable practice of shark finning and its effect on our ecosystem. Perhaps we should start thinking about breeding sharks for human consumption.