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Overview
This decorated cardboard shark fin was sent to the New Zealand Shark Alliance for its campaign to ban shark finning in New Zealand waters. It was one of 1894 fins made by school students and community groups around Aotearoa New Zealand between March and November 2013. The campaign aimed to raise public awareness and outrage over shark finning, a practice which sees millions of sharks being killed for only their fins and their bodies dumped at sea.
At the time of the campaign this practice was legal in New Zealand waters - as long as the sharks were dead. Supporters of the campaign believe that shark finning is inhumane and wasteful, and may be contributing to a global decline in shark populations.
The government consulted widely, and from October 2014, it became illegal for commercial fisheries to remove fins from any shark and discard their bodies at sea in New Zealand.
The New Zealand Shark Alliance
The New Zealand Shark Alliance successfully brings together many non-governmental organisations and scientists including Forest & Bird, Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and World Wide Fund for Nature.