A sad reflection on what we are doing to the planet.

I believe education is key, you can legislate all you like but if people still want shark fin soup, someone will go out and kill sharks to provide it. If someone believes eating parts of a tiger's penis will cure them of something, and they're willing to pay for it, someone else will be willing to go out and shoot a tiger for them.

The more people who are aware and understand what's going on, the more likely there will be a change in policy by the people involved. There was a big push for "dolphin friendly tuna" a few years back, plenty of publicity and the general public started looking for "dolphin friendly" on their tuna cans. How much of a difference it made to the tuna fishing industry is open to debate, but it made a difference.

Next time you're in a restaurant somewhere offering shark fin soup and one of your friends says "I wonder what that tastes like", explain to them the problem and hopefully they won't order it. Even take a further step and explain to the restaurant that you won't be coming back as long as they have it on the menu.

There will always be some accidental catching of various species, the best bet to minimize that is to change fishing methods. I don't know the answer, but I'm sure someone can figure out how, they just need the right incentive.

However, the only way to stop the deliberate taking of sharks is to remove the market for the products.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth (2 pennies in English).