What practice involves removing a shark's fins and discarding the body at sea?

The practice of removing a shark’s fins and discarding the body at sea is shark finning.

In this process, fishers cut off the dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, anal, and tail fins, then throw the remaining carcass overboard. The shark may still be alive. Without its fins, it cannot swim normally, often sinks, and may suffocate or be eaten. Keeping only the fins also saves valuable storage space because fins are much more profitable than the bulky body.

Shark finning is closely associated with demand for shark-fin soup and other markets, particularly in East and Southeast Asia. It is not the same as ordinary bycatch, gillnetting, or longlining: those terms describe fishing circumstances or gear, whereas finning describes what happens to the shark after capture.

Many jurisdictions prohibit finning or require vessels to land sharks with their fins attached. Removing fins from a legally landed shark is therefore not always classified as finning under a particular law, even though the biological and conservation concerns are related.