Tradition Without Borders: Comparative Responses to the Shark Fin Trade After the Chinese Diaspora

Abstract

This research investigates variation in shark fin policy among nation-states and the possible causal pathways, specifically, from domestic institutional and domestic societal perspectives. Since the 1970s, demand for shark fin soup, a Chinese delicacy, has caused global shark populations to fall. The consequences of diminishing shark stocks include an environmental threat to marine ecosystems and a risk to seafood supplies, as non-predatory species face possible decimation by mesopredatory species now left unchecked by the disappearing apex predator, sharks. A multiple case study design and comparative analyses using documentation such as law texts, government statements, and periodicals point to domestic-level factors explaining national variation. This study concludes that an interaction of domestic institutional and domestic societal factors provide a compelling explanation of why variation in shark fin trade policy among states occurs. The findings of this research demonstrate that even though formal legislative control is channeled through domestic political institutions, unique domestic societal variables among nations also play a role in influencing policy.