Each year, up to 73 million sharks are killed, primarily for their fins. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 1/3 of all shark and ray species are now threatened with extinction. In just a few decades, some regional shark populations have declined by over 95%, and their populations continue to decline. Some experts predict that by 2017 up to 20 species of sharks could become functionally extinct. The reason? Over the last 30 years, the number of people eating shark fin has risen from a few million on rare occasion in the 1980’s to more than 300 million today. Sharks, slow to reproduce, cannot withstand our excessive demands for their fins Focusing on reducing demand for shark fin through consumption, trade and possession bans is the quickest and most effective way to save sharks from extinction. Our focus is devoid of emotion or bias. Instead of targeting a specific culture, we are targeting the issue itself, and shark finning is a global issue – with global consequences.