13kAccesses
22Citations
24Altmetric
2Mentions
Abstract
Shark finning is prohibited in many countries, but high prices for fins from the Asian market help maintain the international black-market and poaching. Traditional shark fin bans fail to recognize that the main driver of fin exploitation is linked to cultural beliefs about sharks in traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, shark finning should be addressed considering the social science approach as part of the fishery management scheme. This paper investigates the cultural significance of sharks in traditional Chinese and Hawaiian cultures, as valuable examples of how specific differences in cultural beliefs can drive individuals’ attitudes toward the property of shark finning. We suggest the use of a social science approach that can be useful in the design of successful education campaigns to help change individuals’ attitudes toward shark fin consumption. Finally, alternative management strategies for commercial fishers are provided to maintain self-sustainability of local coastal communities.
This is a preview of subscription content,log in via an institution to check access.
Access this article
Subscribe and save
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime
Buy Now
Price includes VAT (Japan)
Instant access to the full article PDF.


Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguilar F (2006) Informe tecnico Tiburon Memo to P. Solís at INP, Guayaquil
Alvaro M (2006) Soccer star weighs into save sharks. EcoAmericas, 24 January.http://www.ecoamericas.com/en/story.aspx?id=690 Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Anderson RC, Waheed A (1999) Management of shark fisheries in the Maldives. In: Shotton R (ed) Case studies of the management of elasmobranch fisheries. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 378/2. FAO, Rome
Anon (1995) China culinary art encyclopedia. China Encyclopedia Publishers, Beijing
Ariz JA, Delgado de Molina ML, Santana JC (2006) Body-weight (dressed weight) and fin-weight ratios of several species of shark caught by Spanish longliners in the Indian Ocean. Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) Working Group to Assess Stock Assessments 7th Meeting. Document SAR-7-09, San Diego
Beckwith MW (1917) Hawaiian shark aumakua. Am Anthropol 19:503–517
Bradsher K (2005) Disneyland in China offers a soup and lands in a stew. The New York Times, New York, NY, 17 June.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/business/worldbusiness/17shark.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Braun KL, Mokuau N, Hunt GH, Kaanoi M, Gotay CC (2002) Supports and obstacles to cancer survival for Hawaii’s native people. Cancer Practice 10:192–200
Brown PJ, Manfredo MJ (1987) Social values defined. In: Decker D, Goff GG (eds) Valuing wildlife. Westview Press, Boulder, pp 12–23
Camhi M, Fowler S, Musick J, Bräutigam A, Fordham S (1998) Sharks and their relatives: ecology and conservation. Occasional paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission 20. IUCN, Gland
Carr LA, Stier AC, Fietz K, Montero I, Gallagher AJ, Bruno JF (2013) Illegal shark fishing in the Galàpagos marine reserve. Mar Policy 39:317–321
Cheung GCK, Chang CY (2011) Cultural identities of Chinese business: networks of the shark-fin business in Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Business Review 17:343–359
Cisneros-Montemayor A, Barnes-Mauthe M, Al-Abdulrazzak D, Navarro-Holm E, Sumaila UR (2013) Global economic value of shark ecotourism: implications for conservation. Oryx 47:381–388
Clarke SC (2004a) Shark product trade in mainland China and Hong Kong and implementation of the CITES shark listings. TRAFFIC East Asia, Hong Kong
Clarke SC (2004b) Understanding pressures on fishery resources through trade statistics: a pilot study of four products in the Chinese seafood market. Fish Fish 5:53–74
Clarke SC, McAllister MK, Milner-Gulland EJ, Kirkwood GP, Michielsens CGJ, Agnew DJ, Pikitch EK, Nakano H, Shivji MS (2006) Global estimates of shark catches using trade records from commercial markets. Ecol Lett 9:1115–1126
Clarke SC, Milner-Gulland EJ, Cemare TB (2007) Perspective, social, economic, and regulatory drivers of the shark fin trade. Mar Resourc Econ 22:305–327
Cortés E (2004) Life history patterns, demography, and population dynamics. In: Carrier JC, Musick JA, Heithaus MR (eds) Biology of sharks and their relatives. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 449–469
Davis D, Banks S, Birtles A, Valentine P, Cuthill M (1997) Whale sharks in Ningaloo Marine Park: managing tourism in an Australian protected area. Tour Manag 18:259–271
Dulvy NK, Baum JK, Clarke S, Compagno LJV, Cortés E, Domingo A, Fordham S, Fowler S, Francis MP, Gibson C, Martínez J, Musick JA, Soldo A, Stevens JD, Valenti S (2008) You can swim but you can’t hide: the global status and conservation of oceanic pelagic sharks and rays. Aquat Conserv 18:459–482
Emerson JS (1892) The lesser Hawaiian Gods. Hawaii Hist Soc Papers 2:1–24
EU (2003) Council Regulation (EC) No 1185/2003 of 26 June 2003 on the removal of fins of sharks on board vessels. Official Journal of the European Union L167/1-3.http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:167:0001:0003:EN:PDF Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Fabinyi M (2012) Historical, cultural and social perspectives on luxury seafood consumption China. Environ Conserv 39:83–92
Ferretti F, Worm B, Britten GL, Heithaus MR, Lotze HK (2010) Patterns and ecosystem consequences of shark declines in the ocean. Ecol Lett 13:1055–1071
Fischer J, Erikstein K, D’Offray B, Guggisberg S, Barone M (2012) Review of the implementation of the international plan of action for the conservation and management of sharks. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No 1076, FIRF/C1076. FAO, Rome
Fong QSW, Anderson JL (1998) Assessment of the Hong Kong shark fin trade. In: Eide A, Vassdal T (eds) Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, Vol. 2. Tromsø, pp. 669-673
Fong QSW, Anderson JL (2000) Assessment of the Hong Kong shark fin trade. Infofish Intern 1(2000):28–32
Fong QSW, Anderson JL (2002) International shark fin markets and shark management: an integrated market preference-cohort analysis of the blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus). Ecol Econ 40:117–130
Fowler SL, Camhi M, Burgess GH et al (2005) Sharks, rays and chimaeras: the status of the chondrichthyan fishes. Status survey. IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group, Cambridge
Francis MP, Griggs LH, Baird SJ (2001) Pelagic shark bycatch in the New Zealand tuna longline fishery. Mar Freshw Res 52:165–178
Freeman M (1977) Sung. In: Chang KC (ed) Food in Chinese Culture. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp 141–192
Gallagher AJ, Hammerschlag N (2011) Local shark currency: the distribution, frequency, and economic value of shark ecotourism. Curr Issues in Tour 14:797–812
Gilman E (2007) Shark catch rates and disposition. In: Gilman E, Clarke S, Brothers N, Alvaro-Shigueto J, Mandelman J, Mangel J, Petersen S, Piovano S, Thomson N, Dalzell P, Donoso M, Goren M, Werner T (eds) Shark depredation and unwanted bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries: industry practices and attitudes, and shark avoidance strategies. Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, Honolulu, pp 12–14
Handy ES, Pukui MK (1958) The Polynesian family system in Ka’u, Hawai’i. The Polynesian Society, Wellington
Henderson C (1984) Publicity strategies and techniques for Minnesota’s nongame wildlife checkoff. Trans North Am Wildl Nat Resour Conf 49:181–189
Hilborn R (2007) Defining success in fisheries and conflicts in objectives. Mar Policy 31:153–158
Hospital J, Beavers C (2014) Catch shares and the main Hawaiian Islands bottomfish fishery: linking fishery conditions and fisher perceptions. Mar Policy 44:9–17
Hospital J, Bruce SS, Pan M (2011) Economic and social characteristic of the Hawaii small boat pelagic fishery. In: Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. NMFS, NOAA (ed). Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-11-01, 50p. +Appendices, Honolulu, HI 96822-2396
IAASTD (2008) Agriculture at a crossroads: the synthesis report. International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, Washington
Jacquet J, Alava JJ, Pramod G, Henderson S, Zeller D (2008) In hot soup: sharks captured in Ecuador’s waters. Environ Sci 5:269–283
Johnson JC, Griffith DC (2010) Finding common ground in the commons: intracultural variation in users’ conceptions of coastal fisheries issues. Soc Nat Resour 23:837–855
Jones A (2005) Skip the soup and save sharks from the jaws of greed. South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 3 July
Kirch P (1985) Feathered Gods and fishhooks: an introduction to Hawaiian archaeology and prehistory. University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu
Levin SS (1968) The overthrow of the kapu system in Hawaii. J Polynes Soc 77:402–430
Li CH (1998) China: the consumer revolution. John Wiley and Sons, New York
Maly K, Maly O (2003) “Hana Ka Lima, Ai Ka Waha” a collection of historical accounts and oral history interviews with Kama’Aina residents and fisher-people of lands in the Halele’A-Napali region. Kumu Pono Associates, LCC, Hilo
McCoy MA, Ishihara H (1999) The socio-economic importance of sharks in the U.S. Flag areas of the Western and Central Pacific. National Marine Fisheries Service, Long Beach
McKinnel S, Seki MP (1998) Shark bycatch in the Japanese high seas squid driftnet fishery in the North Pacific Ocean. Fisher Res 39:127–138
Miller ML, Kaneko J, Bartram P, Marks J, Brewer DD (2004) Cultural consensus analysis and environmental anthropology: yellowfin tuna fishery management in Hawai’i. Cross-cultural res 38:289–314
Mokuau N, Browne CV, Braun KL (1998) Na Kupuna in Hawai’i: a review of social and health status, service use and the importance of value-based interventions. Pacific Health Dialog 5:282–289
Morse H (2000) Shark finning ban becomes federal law. Honolulu Star Bulletin, 27 December.http://starbulletin.com/2000/12/27/news/story11.html Accessed 4 Jan 2013
Ng T (2011) The impact of seafood consumption on endangered marine species on Hong Kong. Int J Environ Sci 1:2048–2085
NMFS (2005) 2005 Report to Congress pursuant to the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000. United States National Marine Fisheries Service.http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/by_catch/Shark%20Finning%20Report.pdf Accessed 4 Jan 2014
NOAA (2011) Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species. Highly Migratory Species Management Division. National Marine Fisheries Service.http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/Safe_Report/2011/SAFE%20Report_FINAL_122011.pdf Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Okey TA, Banks S, Born AR, Bustamante RH, Calvopia M, Edgar GJ, Espinoza E, Farina JM, Garske LE, Reck GK, Salazar S, Shepherd S, Toral-Granda V, Wallem P (2004) A trophic model of a Galapagos subtidal rocky reef for evaluating fisheries and conservation strategies. Ecol Model 172:383–401
Parry S (2005) Top hotels feel the bite as Disney scraps shark’s fin soup. South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 30 June
Parry-Jones R (1996) TRAFFIC report on shark fisheries and trade in Hong Kong. The world trade in sharks: a compendium of TRAFFIC’s regional studies Vol.1. TRAFFIC, Cambridge, pp. 87-143
Petty R, Cacioppo J (1981) Attitudes and persuasions: classic and contemporary approaches. W.C. Brown Co. Publishers, Dubuque
Petty R, Cacioppo J (1984) Source factors and the elaboration-likelihood model of persuasion. Advanc Consum Res 11:668–672
Petty R, Cacioppo J (1986) Communication and persuasion: central and peripheral routes to attitude change. Springer/Verlag, New York
Petty RE, McMichael S, Brannon LA (1992) The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion: applications in recreation and tourism. In: Manfredo M (ed) Influencing human behaviour: Theory and applications in recreation, tourism, and natural resources management. Sagamore Publishing, Champaign, pp 77–101
Pukui MK, Haertig EW, Lee CA (1972) Nana I ke kumu (Look to the source). Hui Hanai, Queen Lili’uokalani Children’s Center, Honolulu
Rezentes III WC (1993) Na Mea Hawai’i: a Hawaiian acculturation scale. Psychol Rep 73:383–393
Rogan E, Mackey M (2007) Megafauna bycatch in drift nets for albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) in the NE Atlantic. Fisher Res 86:6–14
Romney AK, Batchelder WH, Weller SC (1987) Recent applications of cultural consensus. Am Behav Sci 31:163–177
Rose DA (1996) An overview of world trade in sharks and other cartilaginous fishes. Traffic, Cambridge
Rulifson RA (2007) Spiny dogfish mortality induced by gill-net and trawl capture, and tag and release. North Am J Fisher Manag 27:279–285
Ruppert JLW, Travers MJ, Smith LL, Fortin M-J, Meekan MG (2013) Caught in the middle: combined impacts of shark removal and coral loss on the fish communities of coral reefs. PLoS One 8(9):e74648. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074648
Selman R (1980) The growth of interpersonal understanding: developmental and clinical analyses. Academic Press, New York
Shivji M, Clarke S, Pank M, Natanson L, Kohler N, Stanhope M (2002) Genetic identification of pelagic shark body parts for conservation and trade monitoring. Conserv Biol 16:1036–1047
Smith SED, Au W, Show C (1998) Intrinsic rebound potential of 26 species of Pacific sharks. Mar Freshw Res 49:663–678
Stobutzki IC, Miller MJ, Heales DS, Brewer DT (2002) Sustainability of elasmobranchs caught as bycatch in a tropical prawn (shrimp) trawl fishery. Fish B-NOAA 100:800–821
Taylor LR (1993) Sharks of Hawai’i, their biology and cultural significance. University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu
Techera EJ (2012) Fishing, finning and tourism: trends in Pacific shark conservation and management. Inter J Mar Coast Law 27:597–621
Titcomb M, Pukui MK (1972) Native use of fish in Hawai’i. University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu
Topelko KN, Dearden P (2005) The shark watching industry and its potential contribution to shark conservation. J Ecotour 4:108–128
Tsui B (2013) Souring on shark fin soup. The New York Times, New York, NY, 29 June.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/souring-on-shark-finsoup.html?pagewanted=all Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Vannuccini S (1999) Shark utilization, marketing and trade. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 389. FAO, Rome
Vaske JJ, Donnelly MP, Wittmann K, Laidlaw S (1995) Interpersonal versus social-values conflict. Leisure Sci 17:205–222
Ward P, Myers RA (2005) Shifts in open-ocean fish communities coinciding with the commencement of commercial fishing. Ecol 86:835–847
Weller C (2007) Cultural consensus theory: applications and frequently asked questions. Field Methods 19:339–368
Wild Aid (2005) At rock bottom: the declining sharks of the Eastern tropical Pacific. San Francisco.http://www.protect-the-sharks.org/pdf/Wildaid/At_Rock_Bottom.pdf Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Wild Aid (2007) End of the line? - Global threats to sharks (2nd Edition). San Francisco.http://www.wildaid.org/sites/default/files/resources/EndOfTheLine2007US.pdf Accessed 4 Jan 2014
Williams DR (1993) Conflict in the great outdoors. Parks Recreat 28:28–34
Williams H, Schaap AH (1992) Preliminary results of a study into the incidental mortality of sharks in gill-nets in two Tasmanian shark nursery areas. In: Pepperell JG (ed) Sharks, Biology and Fisheries. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 43: 237-250
Worm B, Davis B, Kettemer L, Ward-Paige CA, Chapman D, Heithaus MR, Kessel ST, Gruber SH (2013) Global catches, exploitation rates, and rebuilding options for sharks. Mar Policy 40:194–204
Yang M (1994) Gifts, favors and banquets: the art of social relationships in China. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Yang M (2002) The resilience ofguanxi and its new deployments: a critique of some new guanxi scholarship. China Quart 170:459–476
Acknowledgments
We thank three anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly helped in improving the quality of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Institute for Coastal Science and Policy, Flanagan 250, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA
Andrea Dell’Apa, M. Chad Smith & Mahealani Y. Kaneshiro-Pineiro
- Andrea Dell’Apa
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
- M. Chad Smith
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
- Mahealani Y. Kaneshiro-Pineiro
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
Corresponding author
Correspondence toAndrea Dell’Apa.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dell’Apa, A., Chad Smith, M. & Kaneshiro-Pineiro, M.Y. The Influence of Culture on the International Management of Shark Finning.Environmental Management54, 151–161 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0291-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date: