Sharks face catastrophic population declines from finning, targeted fishing and bycatch, causing individual suffering at scale and threatening ecosystem stability globally.
Shark welfare concerns have historically received less attention than shark conservation despite both being compelling reasons to end finning and overfishing. Finning — removing fins from living sharks and returning them to the ocean to drown — causes distress and a prolonged death. The scale of shark mortality from commercial fishing represents one of the largest welfare and conservation crises in the ocean. Cultural change reducing shark fin demand, combined with effective enforcement of finning bans, is the most impactful pathway to reducing this suffering.