(Picture: IMAGEMORE Co, Ltd.)

On Shark Awareness Day, it’s time to talk about the fact that restaurants in Britain are still insisting on selling shark fin soup, despite evidence that shark finning is wiping out shark populations and putting our oceans at risk.

Shark fin soup is a ‘delicacy’ traditionally found in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, dating back to the Song Dynasty. Bowls can cost up to £180 and it is still seen as a symbol of wealth and status to serve the soup at a wedding or business banquet.

The shark fin itself mostly adds texture. It has very little flavour and the broth is often supplemented with chicken stock.



Some claim that shark fin soup has health benefits, although there’s no evidence to support this. Shark meat actually contains high levels of mercury that can accumulate in human bodies and eventually cause mercury poisoning.


According to estimates from marine life conservation organisation Bite-Back, 73,000,000 sharks are slaughtered for their fins every year. That’s roughly 200,000 sharks a day or two every second.

Fishermen will hack the fins off living sharks and simply throw the rest of their bodies overboard, allowing them to bleed to death. Shark finning is a wasteful, barbaric practice, but it also has a devastating impact on our oceans.

The oceans need sharks to keep them healthy. (Picture: Ken Kiefer 2)

Sharks are the apex predators of the sea. They sit at the very top of the marine food chain and their presence regulates all species below them, right down to the smallest, most microscopic bit of plankton. Ecosystems rely on balance, and by decimating shark populations, we are putting the health and biodiversity of every single once of the world’s oceans in jeapoardy.

Sharks take a long time to reach maturity (between seven and 20 years), meaning that shark numbers do not quickly replenish.

The high prices a bowl of shark fin soup can fetch mean that fishermen are financially incentivised to hunt sharks. If shark populations cannot recover from this onslaught, there’s a very real chance of them being wiped out, and the delicate balance of the oceans with them.

Over the past 50 years, Great White, Hammerhead and Tiger sharks have seen their populations drop by as much as 90%.

Sharks have far outlived the dinosaurs. (Picture: Rodrigo Friscione)

Sharks are some of the oldest lifeforms on earth, appearing 420 million years ago. Instead of being treated with the respect they deserve, they are vilified in the public consciousness, mutilated for their fins and over-fished to the point that they are in serious danger.

The shark conservation charity Bite-Back has spearheaded efforts in the UK to reduce shark fin sales, leading to an 82% fall in the number of restaurants serving shark fin soup and shark fin dumplings.

Graham Buckingham from Bite-Back told Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s truly shocking to think that the popularity of shark fin soup – a gristly, cartilaginous broth – could wipe out keystone shark species that have been ruling the oceans for millions of years.

‘Apathy for shark conservation could come at a devastating price. Healthy oceans produce 50% of the oxygen we breathe, absorb 20% of all man-made CO2 and provide 93 billion tonnes of wild seafood every year. But critically, healthy oceans rely on healthy shark populations.

‘Without sharks the oceans could collapse and that’s why, for the sake of life on earth, we need to protect sharks.

Shredded shark fin in broth. (Picture: imagenavi)

‘Bite-Back is enormously proud of our efforts in reducing the number of restaurants Right now there are no more than a dozen restaurants still serving the controversial dish. So our goal of making Britain the first major country in the world to ban shark fin soup is within touching distance.’



Bite-Back has successfully campaigned for ASDA to stop selling 100, 000 portions of mako and thresher shark every day, Iceland and Wagamama to stop selling blue shark, Sainsbury’s and Tesco to remove pre-packaged marlin from their stores and health food store Holland & Barratt to remove shark cartilage capsules from 580 stores.

Restaurants serving shark fin soup/shark fin dumplings in London Mandarin Kitchen – 14-16 Queensway, London W2 3RX

– 14-16 Queensway, London W2 3RX Yi-Ban -London Regatta Centre, 1010 Dockside Rd, London E16 2QT

-London Regatta Centre, 1010 Dockside Rd, London E16 2QT Oversea Chinese Restaurant – 7 Gerrard Street, London W1D 5PH

– 7 Gerrard Street, London W1D 5PH Wan Chai Corner – Gerrard Street, London W1D 5PD

– Gerrard Street, London W1D 5PD Jun Peking -12 Sutton Parade, London NW4 1RR

Restaurants serving shark fin soup/shark fin dumplings in the rest of the UK China City – 56 Faulkner St, Manchester M1 4FH

– 56 Faulkner St, Manchester M1 4FH Golden Dragon – 246 Lockhurst Lane, Coventry, CV6 5NJ

– 246 Lockhurst Lane, Coventry, CV6 5NJ Golden Dragon – London Rd, Shardlow, Derby DE72 2HN

– London Rd, Shardlow, Derby DE72 2HN Shanghai Moon – 76-78 High Street, Leicester LE1 5YP

We reached out to all these restaurants for comment but they either declined or had not responded by the time of publication.

The Yew Tree in Walken, Hertfordshire still has shark fin soup on their online menu, but told Metro.co.uk that they no longer serve it.

If we were talking about a soup that contained leopard paws or lion tails, would restaurants in Britain still get away with serving it?

If you want to help sharks and end the harmful practice of shark finning, you can get involve with a Bite-Back campaign here.

MORE: Without sharks the world’s oceans would be ruined

Advertisement Advertisement