Hunted as never before, they can't keep pace
© Asia Week
There is a highly organized, global
extermination campaign under way, and Asian countries are taking the lead.
The target is one of the oldest fish in the sea - the shark. They are being
harvested in ever increasing numbers to provide the raw material for
sharkfin soup. Traditionally, this gourmet dish has been prized fare,
reserved for the elite and truly special occasions. In recent years,
however, the demand for sharkfin soup has increased significantly in tandem
with growing regional wealth.
For example, consumption of sharkfin in Singapore, a nation of three
million, is estimated to have increased from 400,000 kilos in 1997 to
500,000 kilos in 1998. Prestigious restaurants in Asia proudly display large
shark's fins in their windows. Popular hotel chains offer sharkfin soup at
discount prices to attract guests. Regional airlines offer it to entice
first class passengers.
Most eager consumers of sharkfin soup probably aren't aware that there's a
major problem with the rapid and uncontrolled growth in its popularity.
Simply stated, sharks can't keep up. They have been around for some 400
million years and are arguably among the most successful organisms on the
planet. Found globally, sharks have adapted to a multitude of environments.
But they have unique characteristics that make them vulnerable to
over-fishing:
• Sharks are slow to reproduce. Certain species take over 20 years to reach
breeding age. This means that the common fishing practice of taking nearly
all the adult sharks from a reef practically extinguishes the shark
population for the foreseeable future, perhaps for good.
• To make matters worse, most shark species produce few offspring when they
do mate. This contrasts with other fish, which reach maturity rapidly and
produce thousands of offspring in a single mating. As a consequence, shark
populations have a very difficult time replenishing themselves through
natural patterns of reproduction.
• Sharks are top predators and keep levels of other marine life in check. As
such, the elimination of sharks is likely to disrupt the natural balance of
their ecosystem. Excessive hunting of them may result in undesirable
over-expansion of other marine populations, which in turn may choke marine
ecosystems on which we rely for food, recreation and protection.
• Finally, as the top predators in their environments, sharks are relatively
scarce even without being hunted. Like other animals in that role, they
require a large area to find enough food to survive. This simple fact
naturally limits the size of their populations.
Obviously, shark biology and current trends in sharkfin consumption clash.
For now, sharkfin merchants keep pace with ballooning demand for fins by
sourcing them from increasingly remote locations such as the South Pacific,
the Maldives and South America. It is only a matter of time before shark
populations in such areas are fished out as they have been in many parts of
Asia.
Perhaps the most insidious aspect of the sharkfin industry is the manner in
which fins are procured. Fishermen amputate the valuable fins and throw the
still living fish back into the water to drown. The fins comprise only a
minor portion of a shark's total body weight. So not only is this practice
cruel, it is incredibly wasteful.
Successful though they may be, sharks did not evolve to be killed in large
quantities for their fins. They evolved on the basis that there would be few
animals capable of preying upon sharks, unlike fish such as sardines or
herring, which did develop to be hunted in large quantities. It is now clear
that shark populations cannot cope with the explosion in fin demand.
A close parallel on land for sharks might be tigers. They also evolved as
top predators, are naturally limited in number, reproduce slowly and bear
few offspring. Again driven by culture and tradition (and again mainly in
Asia), people hunt tigers for their bones and penises to brew potency
potions for aging men. This has led to the extinction of several species,
with the further real prospect of complete annihilation of all wild tigers
within our generation.
Understanding the plight of the tiger, we should be able to see quite
clearly what the final outcome is likely to be for sharks should we continue
to harvest them relentlessly - extermination. Asians need to re-evaluate
whether it is prudent to follow tradition blindly when reason points to the
almost certain destructive consequences of such behaviour. Custom and
tradition have obvious importance, but the ability to adapt and change
social values to new circumstances must carry greater weight in the long
run.
Fortunately, some positive signs are emerging. In the past couple of years,
some multinational companies in the region have instituted non-reimbursement
policies for meals involving sharkfin, and regional airlines have recently
responded to letters of concern from passengers by removing sharkfin soup
from their menus.
At the end of the day, however, the fate of sharks and other endangered life
in this region depends on the choice of individual consumers - they are the
ones who have the power to decide whether to condone unsustainable
exploitation of our natural resources.