Many people in Asia love to eat shark fin. Some said it is good for our body and it taste very good. But let me tell you this, every year there are ten million sharks getting killed because of finning. Fishermans hack off the fin of the shark and tossed the shark back to the ocean causing them to suffer from a slow death. Most of the shark fins are being sent to Asia because Chinese people are consuming them. I personally think eating shark fins is a bad practice. It takes away important parts of sharks and is barbaric and cruel.
Why eating shark fins are bad? Nowadays our oceans have been polluted with poisonous chemicals such as mercury. Sharks are at the top of the food web in the ocean which means that there are many toxins in the sharks’ bodies. Small fish consume all the poisonous substances in the oceans, and sharks eat the small fish. This causes the toxins to be concentrated in the shark’s bodies. It is dangerous for humans to consume sharks for this reason.
Killing massive amounts of sharks causes the collapsing of the food web in the oceans. If there are no more sharks, then the population of the small fish in the oceans will increase rapidly, causing an overpopulation.
1.3 million of the people in China have been eating shark fins. More sharks are being killed just for a bowl of shark fin soup. Because of this, the population of the sharks have been decreasing by 90% in the past 20 years. Many shark species are going to be extinct if people continue to eat shark fin soup.
Restaurants can replace shark fin soup by using chicken, pork, shrimp, crab, and vermicelli. I personally think that by replacing shark fins with these ingredients can restore the population of the sharks. In fact, chicken, pork, shrimp, crab, and vermicelli are cheaper than shark fin, and more clean and safe. Every restaurant in Asia that sold shark fin soup should promote the idea of replacing shark fins with other ingredients.
Vermicelli soup (replacement of shark fin soup)
Shark fin soup
Though I understand that shark finning is a major problem in the world, I do not think the issue can be resolved any time soon. Most of the countries that are campaigning against shark finning are the countries in the West, such as the US. However, the majority of the demand for shark fins come from China, where shark fins are considered an delicacy. I think that in order to stop shark finning, change has to come from the main consumers, and not those who are campaigning against it.
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