In the oceans of the world, sharks swim at the top of the food chain. But in Hawaii, they are the prey of commercial fishermen, who engage in the controversial practice of finning. They cut the fins off, then throw the carcass back in the water. The stringy tendrils from the dorsal, pectoral and lower tail fins of sharks are prized as the namesake ingredient of oriental shark-fin soup

Long-line fishing boats lay out miles of baited hooks for tuna and other food fish. They unavoidably catch sharks in the process. Fishermen say there is little market for most shark meat, which is heavy in uric acid. But lopping off the fins is lucrative: for the crew of a fishing boat, the fins can be worth from $18 to $70 a pound, depending on the size and type. By comparison, tuna commands $3 to $5 per pound.

"If the catch is low ... the shark fin really helps a lot," says one fisherman. "You pay some bills." But a shark without fins can't survive, and opponents of finning want the practice banned as wasteful and cruel. Some experts also wonder if too many sharks are being taken and are pushing for laws to ban finning. Sharks typically are slow-growing and slow to reproduce, and when they do reproduce, they have a very small number of young -- characteristics that make them potentially susceptible to over-fishing.

Because the fins are sold informally at a dockside cash market, it's difficult to track how many sharks are being killed. The National Marine Fisheries says it has no firm numbers, and fishermen say the number is small. "What I've seen over the years that I've been fishing, I can't see where fishing hurts anything," says fisherman Skip Gallimore. It seems an ironic controversy for Hawaii, a state that loves seafood, but also calls the shark an "amakua" -- Hawaiian for guardian spirit or protector.