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An article by Gwynn Guilford, writing for Quartz discusses how the whale shark, an endangered species close to extinction, is being fished by Wenzhou Yueqing Marine Organisms Health Protection Foods Company, a factory in China at the rate of 600 sharks per year. The factory pays up to $31,000 per whale shark, and has a global network of fishing boats that will sell to them. (Source: Wildliferisk.org) Most other countries, including the United States, have banned the fishing of whale sharks. The factory in China exports at least 300 tons a year in oil leached from the livers of whale sharks, blue sharks and basking sharks. This oil is then blended with other ingredients at another location and sold in capsule form in the U.S. and Canada.
Whale sharks help feed the growing market for fish oil used in supplements and cosmetics sold in the US and Canada. “According to the Nutrition Business Journal, fish oil products generated about $1.2 billion in sales in the United States last year, making them among the most popular dietary supplements on the market.” (Source: New York Times Well Blog)
The recent popularity of fish oil supplements is due largely to their reported health benefits: “An analysis of 20 studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants indicates that eating approximately one to two 3-ounce servings of fatty fish a week—salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, or sardines—reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by 36 percent.” (Source: Harvard School of Public Health)
Not all fish oil contains whale shark oil, and the fish oil products from this particular factory are a small proportion of the overall fish oil market. But the whale shark species is still being fished closer to extinction by this factory and other factories to satisfy consumer demand for fish oil.
Post prepared by William Mitchell College of Law student Michael Storlie
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