Shark Finning: Cruelty, Waste, and the Case for Fins-Attached Laws

Shark finning — removing fins from live sharks and discarding the body at sea — is a cruelly wasteful practice driving the decline of shark populations worldwide.

Key Facts

An estimated 73-100 million sharks are killed annually, with finning a major driver of mortality.
Finned sharks are often thrown back into the ocean alive, where they sink and drown or are eaten by other predators.
Shark fins are used primarily in shark fin soup, considered a luxury dish in parts of East and Southeast Asia.
Fins-attached laws — requiring sharks be landed with fins naturally attached — prevent finning by eliminating at-sea dumping.
Over 110 countries and territories have implemented some form of shark finning regulation, though enforcement quality varies widely.
Sharks have cartilaginous skeletons and do not experience pain in the same way as bony fish, but they are sentient animals with nociceptive systems.
Removing shark fins at sea and discarding the body wastes over 95% of the animal's mass while maximising profit per unit of vessel capacity.

Welfare Considerations

A finned shark thrown overboard alive cannot swim effectively, sinks to the sea floor, and dies slowly over hours. The suffering duration is difficult to measure precisely for sharks, but the process represents a prolonged death from asphyxia or predation following traumatic amputation. Beyond the individual welfare dimension, the scale of shark finning — millions of individuals annually — makes it one of the most significant wildlife welfare crises in marine environments. The welfare case against finning is inseparable from the conservation case: shark populations regulate marine ecosystems, and their collapse has cascading effects on ocean biodiversity. Fins-attached legislation is the most effective policy tool to prevent finning while allowing legitimate shark fisheries.

What You Can Do

Never order or consume shark fin soup.
Support organisations campaigning for fins-attached legislation in countries without effective regulations.
Choose seafood from fisheries with bycatch reduction programmes that protect sharks.
Advocate for stronger CITES trade protections for shark species most affected by finning.
Support marine protected areas that provide refuges for shark populations.