The Underwater Channel cares passionately about the health of the world's oceans and wants secure futures for all marine animals.  We believe it is completely unacceptable that sharks, which are one of earth's oldest inhabitants, are now being pushed towards extinction by man, one of earth's more recent residents. 

On average in recent years sharks have accounted for less than ten human deaths annually in all the world's seas to fuel the growing demand for shark fins, man has been killing up to 100 million sharks each year.  The Underwater Channel wants action and we are urging our viewers to contact the United Nations Secretary-General and request that member states be made aware of the threats to sharks and encouraged to put in place effective legislation to stop shark-finning, or more effectively police existing laws. 

The British based Shark Trust is recognised as an authority, and we asked them for a statement on the status of shark populations and the threats they face from finning. 

"The demand for shark fins has meant that some shark species are no longer by-catch in other fisheries but are targeted species.  Sharks are extremely vulnerable to over fishing as they mature late and many species produce few young.  As apex predators sharks are of particular value to ocean food chains.  To stay healthy our oceans need balanced food chains, and it is no exaggeration to say that the removal of apex predators (the top link) could cause very serious damage"    

WildAid is also supporting The Underwater Channel's petition.  Executive Director, Peter Knights says, "The killing of sharks is the largest slaughter of wildlife going on today. Sharks have survived for nearly 4 million years and it would be a massive tragedy if we wipe them out in a single human generation."

Save Our Seas Foundation are also resolute in their support to bring an end to shark finning.  "We need to ask ourselves: do we want to be remembered as the generation that sat back and did nothing as entire populations of sharks were eradicated from the world's oceans, or as the generation that turned the tide, and stopped this unnecessary slaughter? Sharks survived the mass extinction of the dinosaurs but are now in danger of being lost forever. By removing apex predators from the food chain, we are tilting the ecological balance of our seas. This not only threatens the stability of all marine life, but it threatens the future of humanity.  People who have signed this petition understand and care about the plight of our worlds sharks, they hope you will listen and take action too.'' 

Campaign director for Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: "The worldwide trade in shark fins is moving one of the most majestic creatures on earth closer to extinction.  Governments and retailers that allow this trade to continue unchecked are effectively endorsing an underwater genocide.  We must work hard to motivate these groups to bring an urgent end the trade in shark fins and shark fin soup, and take inspiration from the kind of campaigns that halted the ivory trade.  It can be done.  We just need to want it enough."

The Underwater Channel is a maverick for change and we hope our video Shark Fin Soup is widely seen, particularly in South East Asia where we have re-versioned it in Japanese, Chinese and Malay. It is in this part of the world, where Shark Fin Soup is so widely consumed, that the greatest concentration of persuasion needs to be focused. The best ambassadors in the Far East are the children of a culture where Shark Fin Soup remains the order of the day! In order to survive, sharks now need all the help they can get.

Michael Aw, shark campaigner and Founder of Ocean Geographic said "Sharks are instinctual. It is people that lack common sense and are easily fooled by sensational images put up by the media and entertainment industries.  It is an obligation of wildlife image makers to report and show as accurately as possible, the behavior of animals without coercion or aggressive provocation." 

Captain Paul Watson - Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who is also supporting the petition says, "Those who fear sharks should consider that the sharks have far more reason to fear us. They occasionally attack us by mistake when we venture into their world but we seek them out and destroy them with ruthless malice for a bowl of soup."

If there's no demand for Shark Fin Soup then there's no need to kill any more sharks. We ask that they be kept them in the oceans and out of our soup bowls!

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