Vote means shark fin soup is one step closer to being off the menu

A United Nations conference has set its CITES on shark protection after almost 90 countries voted to limit or regulate nearly all species being traded for the main ingredient in shark fin soup.

Shark conservation was high on the conversation agenda at the convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which voted through the landmark decision, although 29 voted against it and 17 countries abstained.

It won’t be any surprise to discover that those against the vote included the likes of China and Japan, where shark finning and shark fin soup is big business, but thankfully progress prevailed and they were never gonna get a bigger vote.

And with shark deaths estimated at over 100 million a year, change cannot come quick enough. Most are caught for their fins due to shark fin soup being a delicacy in China - hardly something that can be blamed on JAWS popularising fear of sharks.

Many shark species could be wiped out by 2048. (image via Bite Back)

Now up to 90 species, including the whole family of requiem sharks – that’s 56 species such as blue and tiger, and five species of small hammerhead sharks will become significantly more protected, helping limit the barbaric trade and begin the start of putting a fin-ish to such activity.

Words by Dean Newman

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