Finning is a cruel practice that sees fishermen slice off shark fins while they are alive and dump the bleeding fish back into the water.

4th July 2018

New Delhi: A Kerala firm has been accused of using the state high court to get around a central government ban on the grisly practice of shark finning, which involves cutting off their characteristic fin while the fish are alive and exporting it.

Kochi-based Marine Finns, which exports about 15 tonnes of shark fins a year, has been accused of seeking repeated exceptions from the Kerala High Court to continue with the banned trade by claiming it was dealing with old stock.

While there is not much of a market for shark fins in India, they are considered a delicacy in China and southeast Asia, where it is used in soup.

The fin itself is believed to be tasteless cartilage, but taste for the chicken-broth-based soup has flourished on account of its projection as a status symbol.

Sharks use the fin to swim and steer themselves.

More often than not, after the fins are removed, the shark is discarded back into the ocean, rendering it incapable of swimming. As a result, the shark sinks to the bottom of the ocean and invariably dies of suffocation, starvation, blood loss, or is eaten by other predators.

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