Great news from the UK - King Charles III set to ban the shark fin trade

A new law will come into effect in the United Kingdom after King Charles III is set to ban the shark fin trade.

This is the result of years of hard work by various communities and organizations to protect sharks. Surely it will also be a painful blow to the entire shark fin trade industry. On average, each year the UK exported as much as 20 tons of shark fins, which was harvested most often from blue sharks. Ultimately, the whole thing was exported to Asia, where it was the main ingredient of the traditional dish which is shark fin soup.

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“A UK ban on the import and export of shark fins represents a world leading victory for shark conservation, a major blow to the shark fin industry, and a new hope to countries seeking a similar ban across Europe and the rest of the globe” – said Graham Buckingham, Campaign director for Bite-Back organisation.

Bite-back

For the past eight years, Bite-Back & Marine Conservation led a campaign with the goal of banning the shark fin trade. Recent events show that their actions and the huge involvement of the British people as a whole have delivered a great result. This is certainly not the end of the fight to save the sharks, but a small victory that allows all of us to hope that this battle is not lost.

Step by step

The whole practice drives a huge global mechanism that is systematically and at an alarming rate exterminating sharks from the seas and oceans. Let’s hope that the document signed by the British monarch is another step towards making the world a place where is shark finning illegal.

“This news is an incredible result for sharks and the oceans. Around the world sharks are being slaughtered in their millions just for their valuable fins and populations can’t recover. Without breakthroughs like this we could lose some sharks forever. I can only hope that this outcome prompts more countries to follow the UK’s lead and, together, we can give sharks the break they so desperately need” – said Steve Backshall MBE, TV presenter, wildlife expert and patron of Bite-Back.

According to the available data, humans kill around 75-100 million sharks each year. Most of them are finned and, still alive, thrown from the boat back into the water, where, unable to move, the sharks die in agony. Thus, the global shark population has been dramatically decreasing for years, which reflects on the health of the entire world ecosystem, as sharks are the apex predator responsible for keeping the oceans in balance.

Fot. Screenshot from the YouTube video.