| Shark Savers' Letter to Alibaba |
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Here is text of the letter we wrote to Alibaba's CEO, Jack Ma. Jack Ma Dear Mr. Ma, You are the kind of leader we admire. Your vision has resulted in Alibaba, which provides a powerful service to enable the world's small and large entrepreneurs to have a level playing field to find each other and their products. Unfortunately, one of those products is shark fins. Alibaba is enabling an industry that is rapidly depleting the world's shark population. Shark fins should not be freely sold through Alibaba or anywhere else. Approximately 100 million sharks are killed annually for their fins. Fins are often sliced off while still the shark is alive and their living, finless bodies are then tossed back into the sea to die. Growing consumer demand for shark fin soup in Asia fuels this well-documented practice. Many species are now below 10% of their former populations. Sharks are extremely slow to recover from over-fishing because it takes years to reach sexual maturity and they raise few young when compared to most fish. Sharks are the ocean's apex predator and provide an important function in maintaining the ocean's balance. Oceans without sharks is becoming a real possibility, which could result in former prey destroying other species, including phytoplankton, which produce 50% of the earth's oxygen. Our food supply and even our oxygen could be at risk without sharks. Alibaba argues it does nothing illegal and does not allow trade of species listed by CITES. However, many regulations protecting sharks are continually violated by fishermen, including the illegal harvesting of shark fins in protected marine parks, the practice of shark finning which is banned in 17 countries, and quotas on many endangered shark species. The nature of the shark fin industry would indicate that some percentage of the over 60 tons of shark fins offered by Alibaba sellers each year is illicitly obtained. Does Alibaba perform an audit of fins sold to ensure that none are from endangered species or unlawfully harvested? We appreciate that Alibaba would not wish to police or censor their members. However, we think the shark fin situation rises above a threshold of tolerance. It would be a courageous and forward-thinking act of leadership to ban the sale of shark fins on Alibaba. We would publicly applaud you for it. We would be happy to discuss with you further the illicit practices of the shark fin industry, as well as recent research regarding shark populations that will further validate our concern. With best regards, Shark Savers, Inc. |
