The shark fin trade involves finning — removing fins from live or recently caught sharks — causing suffering for tens of millions of sharks annually.
Shark finning is one of the most widely condemned practices in the fishing industry. Removing fins from a live shark and discarding the body causes prolonged suffering before death — sharks, like all fish, are sentient beings capable of experiencing pain. Beyond the welfare of individual animals, the fin trade drives the depletion of shark populations globally, with cascading effects on marine ecosystems. Even when sharks are killed before finning, the scale of the trade — tens of millions of animals annually — represents an enormous aggregate suffering cost.