How Did Shark Finning Become an Industry?
The Chinese have used shark fins in shark-fin soup, considered a delicacy, since the Han Dynasty over 2200 years ago.13 There are records of both the Song Dynasty (960 1279) and the Qing Dynasty (1644 1911) using shark-fin soup as a banquet staple.14 The liberalization of the People s Republic of China in the 1980s resulted in an explosion of commerce that fueled an expansion of the shark finning industry.15 Consequently, shark finning flourished, as a much wider stratum of Chinese society had enough disposable income to afford shark-fin soup.16 Even the recent Asian economic crisis did not significantly lower the demand for fins.17 Hong Kong exemplifies the rapid increase in the shark fin market as it alone consumes an estimated three million kilograms of shark per year.18 Information about the international shark trade is limited, but the prevailing industry proves that the market for shark fins is extremely profitable.19 As the price of shark fins has skyrocketed in the last two dec
