Korean Air has suspended the carriage of shark fins on its cargo flights in a bid to protect sharks, one of the globally endangered marine species.

Previously, Korean Air carried shark fins only under the condition that a valid Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) permit was fully obtained by the customer from the related national management authority.

Recently however, there has been a series of global movements calling to ban the carriage of shark fins including the recent conference of CITES held in Thailand which brought five shark species under CITES controls by declaring them as threatened species for protection, as well as the New York State Assembly’s agreement to ban the trade of shark fins.

It is in view of these movements, and in order to support the global call of protecting endangered shark species, that Korean Air has now reviewed its policy to stop the carriage of shark fins.

As shark fins are traded for high prices in global markets, shark fisheries have been “finning” sharks, the practice of slicing off sharks’ fins before throwing the shark back to sea.

According to some researches, over 73 million of sharks are finned around the world every year.