Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) fully supports the move by the Sabah government to ban shark hunting. Though this is the first step towards conservation of shark species, just by banning hunting alone will not help.

There should be a blanket ban on the consumption of sharks’ fins as well as their import not only in Sabah, but for the whole of Malaysia.

The international trade in fins for sharks’ fin soup now poses the greatest threat to sharks.  Demand soared in East Asia as rising living standards have improved access to luxury foods.  Sharks’ fin soup is often served as a way to impress guests  at wedding celebrations or gathering.  

SAM vigorously opposes finning on moral grounds and also because it is one cause for the rapid decline of global shark populations.

Shark finning is widespread, largely unmanaged and unmonitored. Finning has increased over the past decade largely due to the increasing demand, improved fishing technology, and improved market economics.

Very little is known about the basic knowledge of shark ecology and behaviour, with little understanding of their numbers and population dynamics. However sharks are known to possess  a number of biological traits which make them a fragile resource, and extremely vulnerable to overexploitation.  

Sharks being top predators occur in small numbers. They are slow growing taking years to reach maturity, being more like mammals in terms of their reproductive biology.  Most sharks produce only a handful of young at any one time.

The fin trade is cruel and wasteful as finned sharks are usually discarded alive, maimed and dying. When returned to the ocean the finless shark is unable to swim, and sinks to the ocean bottom to die a slow death.

According to Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, up to 73 million sharks are killed annually. Shark fins are a billion dollar industry because of the lucrative profits.

There are also allegations of links to organised crime and corrupted government officials. It is about time that questions be raised on the medical harm from the consumption of high levels of toxic mercury reportedly found in shark fins.

Many countries now prohibit finning. The International fishing authorities are considering banning shark fishing and finning in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.While finning is banned in the Eastern Pacific, shark fishing and finning continues unabated in most of the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

In countries such as Thailand and Singapore, public awareness advertisements on finning have reportedly reduced consumption by 25 percent.

Sabah should also emulate other countries like Hawaii which became the first state to ban the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins in 2010 with the law becoming effective on July 1, 2011.

SAM urges the Sabah government to implement a ban on shark hunting and finning with immediate effect and not to bow down to pressures from business groups and restaurateurs. At the same time every effort must be taken to increase consumer awareness particularly among Asians so as to end the abuse to the shark finning industry.

The writer is president of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).