2012 Photo Contest, Nature, 3rd prize

Shark Fin

Photographer

Paul Hilton

for Pew/Greenpeace International/Shark Savers

11 June, 2011

Hunting sharks for their fins has become big business across the globe, as shark-fin soup soars in popularity among China’s growing, newly affluent middle class. Up to 73 million sharks are killed annually.

About the photographer

Paul Hilton

Paul Hilton is a Hong Kong-based photojournalist, who focuses on global environmental and conservation issues. Presently, Hilton is working on a manta and mobula ray project, Man...

Background story

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Workers process frozen shark fins at the Dong Gang fish market, Kaohsiung. Hunting sharks for their fins has become big business across the globe, as shark-fin soup—once an expensive delicacy unaffordable to most—soars in popularity among China’s growing, newly affluent middle class. Up to 73 million sharks are killed annually and some recent estimates hold that up to 90 percent of the shark population in open oceans has already disappeared.

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/160 sec
Focal length
21
F-Stop
4.5
ISO
1600
Camera
Canon EOS 5D Mark II

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