There are 400 species of shark, and many are used for their fins. Blue, hammerhead and silky sharks are the most highly traded. Mako and thresher are also popular and great white is also used.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says over 100 million sharks, skates and rays are killed every year. We figure that's just half the total, because another half is unreported. This total threatens sharks because they reproduce slowly, more like mammals than fish. Some sharks only have 1-2 pups every other year, and they may take nine or more years to mature.
We want to reduce the demand for shark-fin soup by educating people. Most of our work is in East Asia, because that's where most of the consumption is.
