Shark Fin Soup - how is this still happening in Thailand?

If you are not upset by this practice, then you don't have a soul. Shark fin, and the soup that it is used in has to be the most cruel sort of dining in the world. It is so bad that even China is making headway in eliminating it.

In case you don't know, shark fin soup is obviously made by cutting the fins off of sharks. That is bad in itself but many times the still living but completely incapable of moving sharks are thrown back into the water to slowly suffocate since sharks can not breathe very well unless they are moving.

source

Now I am not trying to go all PETA-vegan on anyone. I eat meat of all kinds and that is an entirely different topic. I do however draw the line when there is obvious and widespread cruelty involved and especially when the gathering of said food item is done in a horribly unsustainable fashion.

My local community, which is a beach community that depends on sea life to a certain extent for tourism money, does not tolerate this sort of thing. A shark fin soup place opened up and it was quickly shut down by local pressure. In a show of solidarity, the community came together to raise money to purchase and equipment from the owner that was bought for this specific purpose and then they were helped to open a different kind of restaurant. As far as i know it is still open today.

In Chinatown in Bangkok, there are LOADS of shark fin soup establishments and they aren't even covert about it.

source

I understand we can't just come along and tell these families that "ok, you are closed, no soup for you" but I would really like to see some sort of initiative to transition away from this. There is no argument that I am aware of that can be made in FAVOR of shark fin sales and if you know of one by all means share it with me. As an ex dive instructor I can tell you that it is already extremely unlikely that you will ever see a shark when diving and those numbers are dwindling.

Also other problems arise when we eliminated the ocean's number one predator. Maybe some people will realize that jellyfish are incredibly difficult to eat once that is the only thing left in the ocean.

I am all about freedom and don't actually believe that this should be banned (or really anything else for that matter.) However there has to be a better way than this.

I remember seeing an advertisement on a flight through China that said "once the demand stops, the supply stops." This is simple economics and I hope that most people will listen. To me, I can't really imagine what sort of selfish person could sit down to a bowl of shark fin soup and then just carry on with their day.