Hawaii Becomes First State to Ban Shark Fin Soup

Sharks may reign at the top of oceanic food chains, but there's one predator the swimmer can't seem to beat—people. Shark populations suffer because the predators are caught for their meat and as bycatch in long-line tuna fishing. An especially pressing problem is the fin trade, a brutal process where fishermen catch sharks, cut off their fins, and throw them back into the ocean to die. "Finning's" popularity grew exponentially in recent years as eaters worldwide developed tastes for shark-fin soup.

Luckily, sharks finally found a much-needed friend. Last week, Hawaii became the first state in the U.S. to ban the sale of shark-fin soup in restaurants. Beginning in July of 2011, restaurants caught serving up the inhumane soup face fines of $15,000. Second-time offenders can get slapped with fines of $35,000, and third-time offenders face fees of $50,000 and a year in jail.

The move comes not a moment too soon: According to PoliticsofthePlate.com, nearly 75 million sharks get finned each year. The global practice wreaks havoc on shark populations. Since 1960, U.S. populations of white-tip, smooth hammerhead, and bull sharks have decreased by 99 percent. The most healthy populations of sharks in the northwestern Atlantic are down by 40 percent, with least healthy populations declining as much as 90 percent. Already, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists 11 species of sharks on its Red List of threatened species, and the situation is poised to worsen if other states and nations don't adopt conservation measures like Hawaii's.

And while Hawaii's ban is certainly a step in the right direction, it certainly won't fix the problem. Shark-fin soup is especially popular among China's middle and upper classes, and currently the country has no restrictions against serving the soup. This spring, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) failed to protect scalloped hammerhead sharks, oceanic white-tip sharks, porbeagle sharks, and spiny dogfish sharks. Epic fail on the part of an organization that's supposed to enact measures that boost suffering animals' populations.

Sharks' perilous predicament is yet another example of how consumer demand can literally dictate which species thrive and which face extinction. Just look at how sushi's growing global popularity decimated bluefin tuna populations. The same situation is playing out among the world's sharks.

And while consumer demand definitely created the problem for sharks, it can just as easily help reverse the trend. Spreading the word about sharks' (and all imperiled marine creatures') plights can help eaters make more informed decisions. If people know the history behind what's on their plates, they can start making smarter, more sustainable choices.

Photo Credit: TANAKA Juuyoh via Wikimedia Commons