Shark finning is the barbaric practice of catching a shark, cutting off its seven fins and throwing the fish back into the sea where it drowns. The $1.2 billion dollar industry harvests over 70 million sharks a year. The fins are sold as a delicacy for shark fin soup. This is banned in most countries but not in New Zealand. In an effort to support the New Zealand Shark Alliance’s lobbying to change the laws, artists BMD created this 165 by 20 foot mural in 2013. The 190 sharks painted on the side of a parking lot represent the number of sharks killed worldwide every minute. The campaign worked. In October of 2014, shark finning became illegal in New Zealand.
