The petition is aimed for people living in the UK to voice their opposition against shark finning.

Around the world every year millions of sharks are ruthlessly slaughtered for their fins, which are used to produce the ‘delicacy’ that is shark fin soup. This is a great injustice to the environment as removing the top predator from the food chain will lead to a vast increase in its prey species. In the Bay of Cortez, for example, all the sharks and large predatory fish have been over fished to the extent that there has become a huge increase in Humboldt Squid which are ravenous and have decimated fish populations in the region.

In recent years the case for conserving the marine environment has soared, not just in the UK but around the world. This has been highlighted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s ‘Fish Fight’; a campaign that aims to stop throwing tonnes of ‘discard’ (fish that they are politically unable to catch, which are thrown overboard dead).

Here in the UK we rarely choose to eat shark fin soup, and for those who do tend to be of Asian origin. This is down to the fact that shark fin soup is a statement of power and money in Asian societies, as it has become so expensive. The only problem with this is the soup has to be stewed in chicken stock and flavours added to make the soup more favourable. If this is the case, is there any logical need for the death of millions of sharks?

There are many petitions going around the web, not only on Change.org, which are aimed at stopping this ruthless slaughter of sharks. The sharks have their fins cut off and are often thrown back into the ocean alive, where they suffocate and become prey for other animals. This is cruel; and useless and needs to be stopped.