Don’t Celebrate Shark Week In Maryland With Shark Fin Soup

Americans are keen on Shark Week, the Discovery Channel’s weeklong block of (somewhat) educational programming that has become firmly cemented in pop culture. Shark-themed parties are the rage this week. Shark memes flood our social media pages. Late-night comedians have defended the sanctity of Shark Week, but if you’re planning on celebrating with a bowl of shark fin soup in Maryland, you’re part of a problem that results in the cruel deaths of millions of sharks a year.

An estimated 73 million sharks are killed annually for their fins, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. The nonprofit organization says the fins are cut off, often while the shark is still alive, and the mutilated shark is thrown back into the ocean, where it is unable to swim and suffocates, bleeds to death or is killed by a predator.

The United States prohibits shark-finning in federal waters, but there is no nationwide ban on the sale of shark fins, which fuels the global shark-fin trade, the Animal Welfare Institute said.

“The United States is a major producer, exporter and trade stop for shark fins,” Cathy Liss, the Animal Welfare Institute’s president, said. “Clearly, the existing patchwork of state laws have failed to shut down a lucrative billion-dollar industry. When shark fin soup is on the menu, so is animal cruelty.”

A dozen states ban the shark fin trade: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington. Yet each of these states have shark fin soup, a traditionally expensive East Asian dish associated with banquets and celebrations, on their menus.

In Maryland, four restaurants serve shark fin soup, despite the state law. They are New Fortune in Gaithersburg, Bamboo Buffet in Rockville, Gourmet Inspiration in Wheaton and Wong Gee Chinese Restaurant.

Four states — Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida — have pending legislation to ban the trade of shark fins. Shark fin soup is also available in a number of other states, according to the Animal Welfare Institute’s database. They are: Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.

The Animal Welfare Institute said it didn’t have data on the other states. Among the states that ban the trade of shark fins or products, California — which implemented its ban in 2013 — led the way with 59 restaurants that serve the delicacy. New York, which passed its ban a year later, was second with 19.

The organization said it regularly contacts law enforcement agencies to investigate restaurants that are violating their state laws.

Sharks are top predators and are crucial to a functioning marine ecosystem, yet a fourth of all shark and ray species are currently threatened or endangered. Earlier this month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified all but one of the 16 warm-water flat shark species as critically endangered — with declines of more than 80 percent over the past 30 to 45 years — primarily due to overfishing and shark finning.

Last month, Canada, the largest importer of shark fins outside of Asia, banned shark-fin imports and exports. The Animal Welfare Institute endorses the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019, which would make it illegal “to possess, buy, or sell shark fins or any product containing shark fins.”

Further, this federal legislation would enhance the 12 existing state bans by preventing shark fins from entering those markets via interstate commerce.