Budding Solutions

Hong Kong controls about half of the trade

In recent years the crack down on the shark fin trade has been intensifying. Solutions like government intervention and athlete studded campaigns have aided in the ban of shark finning. Government officials across the world have passed plans in their communities to rid the trade of shark fins from their markets. In December 2010, the US government passed a law stating that all fins must be landed with the body still intact (Eilperin 2010). Conservationists have faith that this ban will make as much of an impact as an earlier ban which decreased shark finning 93% between 2000 and 2006 (Eilperin 2010). Earlier this year Chinese government cracked down on the serving of shark fin soup at official banquets. In previous years, China has gotten famous athletes such as Yao Ming to support the ban of shark fin soup (WildAid 2011). Ming states, “‘I urge China to lead by banning shark fin soup, and I urge business leaders to end the consumption of shark fin soup at business events. Unless we act now, we will lose many shark populations, impacting our oceans worldwide’” (WildAid 2011). This campaign has greatly reduced the consumption of the soup. Beijing’s Lianhong Marine Dry Products Market states that business has gone down by 70% and that prices of a half-kilo of the product have gone down from $165 to $110 to clear the shelves (WildAid 2011). Hong Kong controls about a half of the global shark fin trade, which is between $400 million and $550 million (Guilford 2013). When the market in Hong Kong starts to decrease, so will the rest of the world's intake and trade as well.   

Works Cited: 

Eilperin, J. (2010). Congress passes shark protection bill. The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. (Date Accessed: February 19, 2014.) http://tinyurl.com/28kne5v.

Guilford, G. (2013) New York’s ban on the illegal shark fin trade won’t do much to protect sharks. Quartz. Quartz. (Date Accessed: February 20, 2014.) http://qz.com/109052/why-new-yorks-ban-on-the-illegal-shark-fin-trade-may-do-nothing-to-reduce-it/

WildAid. (2011) Yao Ming Calls for a Shark Fin Ban in China. WildAid. WildAid. (Date Accessed: February 20, 2014.) http://www.wildaid.org/news/yao-ming-calls-shark-fin-ban-china.