Shark finning — removing fins from live sharks and discarding the body at sea — is one of the most wasteful and cruel practices in commercial fishing. It drives ecological collapse and causes immense individual suffering.
Shark finning welfare harm is extreme and prolonged. Sharks discarded after finning drown unable to swim or are consumed alive — a process that may take hours. The scale of individual suffering is compounded by the ecological consequences of removing apex predators from marine food webs. Welfare and conservation concerns are inseparable in this context. The primary leverage points are demand reduction in consuming markets, enforcement of finning bans in national waters, and high-seas treaty protections for shark species. International listing of commercially significant shark species under CITES has restricted trade in some species.