Shark’s tale

A photo essay by a World Press Photo award-winner reveals the stark story behind an urgent environmental issue.

US President Barack Obama found himself in hot soup over the issue on Sunday, and the weekend before that, a Malaysian state weighed in on it, too. Even couples getting hitched have an opinion about it now. Yes, it’s downright trendy now to say no to shark fin soup.

Obama decided he wanted some dim sum while he was in San Francisco and stopped at a Chinese restaurant not realising that it had shark fin soup on its menu. The world’s media had a field day with the faux pas – after all, in January last year, Obama himself signed the Shark Conservation Act that toughened regulations by banning imports of into America fins that are not attached to corresponding shark carcasses.

In Malaysia, Sabah is moving towards banning shark hunting in its waters after an almost two-year long “Save the sharks” campaign by NGOS; hotels and restaurants operators in the state are no longer advocating the dish although it is still available.

Earlier in the month, The Star reported how couples are now leaving the dish out of their wedding receptions. Environmentalist Sara Sukor, for instance, said she and her husband had specified a “shark fin-free” wedding on their invitation cards when they got married in 2009. Sara, 30, said she had stopped eating shark’s fin soup since she was 17 after finding out how sharks suffered when their fins were harvested.

But while some parts of the world are

Dead adrift: the lifeless carcass of a grey reef shark hanging in a driftnet as it is pulled to the surface. No escape: This shark, pulled from the depths, is about to be loaded onto a Taiwanese longliner, the Li Chyunno.2, in the Central Pacific....

Finning: an endangered scalloped hammerhead shark having its fins removed at the dong Gang fish market in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. This photo essay by Paul Hilton for the european Pressphoto agency won 3rd place in the Nature category of the 2011 World Press...