page_title: Shark finning
section_title: Process
hierarchical_section_title: Shark finning / Process
context_page_description: Shark finning is the act of removing fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the shark back into the ocean. The sharks are often still alive when discarded, but without their fins. Unable to swim effectively, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and die of suffocation or are eaten by other predators. Shark finning at sea enables fishing vessels to increase profitability and increase the number of sharks harvested, as they must only store and transport the fins, by far the most profitable part of the shark; the shark meat is bulky to transport. Some countries have banned this practice and require the whole shark to be brought back to port before removing the fins.
  Shark finning increased since 1997 largely due to the increasing demand for shark fins for shark fin soup and traditional cures, particularly in China and its territories, and as a result of improved fishing technology and market economics. The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Shark Specialist Group say that shark finning is widespread, and that "the rapidly expanding and largely unregulated shark fin trade represents one of the most serious threats to shark populations worldwide".
context_section_description: Nearly every fin of a shark is targeted for harvest, as highlighted in the diagram. The primary and secondary dorsal fins are removed from the top of the shark, plus its pectoral fins, and, in a single cutting motion, the pelvic fin, anal fin, and bottom portion of its caudal fin, or tail.
  Because the rest of the shark has little value relative to that of its fins, sharks are sometimes finned while fishing vessels are still at sea, and the finless and often still-living shark is thrown back into the sea to free space aboard the vessel. In legal contexts the use of the term "shark finning" can refer specifically to this practice of removing the fins from live sharks and discarding the carcass while still at sea. For these legal purposes the removal of fins on land during catch processing is not necessarily considered to be shark finning.
  Shark species that are commonly finned are:
  Blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus)
  Blue (Prionace glauca) (a species of requiem shark)
  Bull (Carcharhinus leucas) (a species of requiem shark)
  Hammerhead (family Sphyrnidae)
  Oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus) (a species of requiem shark)
  Porbeagle (Lamna nasus) (a species of mackerel shark)
  Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) (a species of mackerel shark)
  Sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) (a species of requiem shark)
  Silky (Carcharhinus falciformis) (a species of requiem shark)
  Spinner (Carcharhinus brevipinna (a species of requiem shark)
  Thresher (family Alopiidae)
  Tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) (a species of requiem shark)
  Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) (a species of mackerel shark)
caption: Highlights showing the typical targets of finning