Shark Finning Research Paper

539 Words2 Pages

Today, several groups and organizations have made an effort to stop shark finning. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES persists as currently one of the largest organizations helping endangered species worldwide. However, the process to approve a species as endangered and place the specific taxonomic group under CITES' security is a long and difficult process. This lack of progress has caused many celebrities and smaller organizations to take action against finning themselves. Celebrities “including basketball player and China’s most well-known sportsman, Yao Ming, […] film star Jackie Chan,” and renowned chef Gordon Ramsay have all made promotional advertisements against shark finning and shark fin soup in order to sway public opinion (Kettles). Other organizations like WildAid, one of the most popular opposing groups of …show more content…

In Europe in 2013, the European Union closed a “regulatory loophole”, which finally forbid the removal of shark fins on any EU registered vessel (Nguyen). Although shark finning was already illegal in the United States, the trade of fins is not. However, in “nine states and three US territories,” the trade of shark fins was abolished (Nguyen). Additionally, all the countries in Central America have banned shark finning illegal in territorial waters, requiring any hunted shark to be brought back to land with its fins still attached to the body (Nguyen). Lastly, China has made significant efforts to deter shark finning as well. Shark awareness has been widely promoted, even to the extreme that the government declared that shark fin soup “would no longer be served at official banquets” (Nguyen). Furthermore, in reaction to the preventive measures taken, “shark fin imports into Hong Kong dropped 70 percent between 2011 and 2012” (Nguyen). Small steps like these can lead to a great

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