[The Hwankyung Ilbo] On July 14, the Environmental Movement Union held a performance calling for an end to the sale of shark fins on the occasion of Shark Awareness Day.

Around the world, 100 million sharks die each year from shark fin operations, and one third of shark species are endangered.

Civic groups, including the Environmental Movement Union, pointed out ▷ unethical behavior during shark capture, ▷ human rights violations and labor exploitation, ▷ ecosystem destruction, and urged the hotel to stop selling shark's fin dishes.

The Korea Environmental Movement Association asks hotels in Seoul every year about the current status of shark fin sales and future plans. 

As of 2021, seven hotels in Seoul, including Lotte Hotel Seoul, Lotte World Lotte Hotel, Seoul Shilla Hotel, Grand Walkerhill Seoul, Koreana Hotel, Westin Chosun Seoul, Chosun Palace, and six hotels except Seoul Shilla Hotel, did not respond to future sales plans.

According to data released by oceanographer Boris Worm (2013), 100 million sharks die each year from shark's fin operations.

Shark's fin fishing takes place by capturing sharks at sea, cutting fins, and dumping their bodies into the sea. The shark abandoned in the sea sinks to the floor without having its fins cut off and dies. 

Shark's fin fishing is not just unethical for sharks. Last year's Long Shing 629 incident clearly shows human rights violations and exploitation of labor in shark's fin fishing.

Sailors who worked on shark's fin on the vessel showed abnormal symptoms such as shortness of breath while working more than 18 hours a day. He eventually died without proper treatment.

Cho Jin-seo, a campaigner at the Public Interest Law Center, stressed the seriousness of human rights abuses contained in shark's fin fishing, saying, "Since shark fishing boats avoid supervision, human rights violations against workers on ships are rampant." 

The impact of shark's fin fishing on the marine ecosystem is also significant. Currently, one-third of the world's shark species are endangered.

If sharks, the top predator in the marine ecosystem, become extinct, the number of second-ranked predators will surge, and the balance of the food chain will collapse in the aftermath.

Chung Hong-seok, a researcher at the Citizens' Environment Research Institute, said, "It is really not necessary to artificially kill 100 million of the top predators in the ecosystem every year." "It does not make any sense to intentionally kill sharks in the sea and let them use them as food ingredients in luxury hotels, while making great efforts to make Asiatic black bears live in the wild again."

Since 2016, the Korea Environmental Movement Association has been campaigning to ban the sale of hotel shark fins every year.

Shark fin dishes sold at 12 hotels in 2016 have been reduced to seven hotels as of 2021.

However, unethical shark fin dishes are still on sale, disguised as high-end dishes. 

"Citizens' awareness of shark's fin cuisine continues to increase," said Kim Sol, an activist at the Korea Environmental Movement Association. "One can feel the changed citizens' perception of Sharkspin cuisine, which was recently posted on Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin's social media. On the other hand, some hotels still continue to sell unethical shark's fin, failing to keep up with the changed perception of citizens. If hotels insist on selling unethical shark's fin dishes in the future, they will be shunned by citizens and eliminated from society."

Meanwhile, Shilla Hotel in Seoul said it is developing an alternative menu that uses dried abalone instead of shark fins and ultimately aims to avoid using shark fins.