Is China's shark-fin soup addiction driving sharks to extinction?

A QUEENSLAND-raised photojournalist has been shortlisted for Wildlife Photographer of Year for a powerful image documenting the horrific Asian shark fin trade.

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A QUEENSLAND-raised photojournalist has been shortlisted for Wildlife Photographer of Year for a powerful image documenting the horrific Asian shark fin trade.

Bali-based Paul Hilton's image The End of Sharks shows thousands of shark fins destined for restaurants in China being processed at Taiwan's Donggang Fish Market.

The photograph is among 100 awe-inspiring images on show at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

The world's most prestigious nature photography competition, now in its 48th year, attracted over 48,000 entries from 98 countries around the world.

GALLERY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year

"This image was shot early in the morning and shows the huge amount of sharks being snagged by long-line fishing," says Hilton.

"I saw thousands of fins, but only twenty or thirty bodies, which shows the terrible amount of waste. Hundreds of thousands of sharks are dumped back into the ocean."

With no limitations on shark fishing in open oceans around the world, environmental campaigners fear many species are teetering on the brink of extinction.

"There is no such a thing as sustainable shark fishing," says Hilton.

"Shark birth rates are incredibly low. There is good conservation work being done in Fiji, Australia and Costa Rica, but beyond it's not being managed."

More than 70 million sharks are slaughtered for their fins each year, with the dismembered sharks typically thrown back into the ocean to die. Once an expensive delicacy, shark-fin soup popularity has soared as China's affluent middle class has grown.

Speaking to News Limited from Medan in Indonesia, where he is documenting the destructive environmental effect of the palm oil industry on native wildlife, Hilton recalls how his mission to document the shark-fin slaughter began.

"Living in Hong Kong, I realised that shark-fins were visible everywhere."

"Raising awareness of the industry's destructive effects has been a long haul. There has been a gradual shift in Hong Kong, first among expats, now with more engaged Chinese."

"Long a status symbol, grandparents demand shark-fin soup at weddings which has led to a clash of generations with some younger Chinese sitting a shark-free tables."

"Now the Chinese government have announced that shark-fin soup will not be served at official functions, basketball star Yao Ming has pushed the issue and Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma has joined Nature Conservancy, a charity campaigning to protect sharks."

In 2009, Ma's Alibaba Group (the Chinese equivalent of eBay) revised its listings policy and banned the sale of shark fin products on all its websites.

Growing up in Townsville, Hilton fell in love with nature while volunteering at his local Parks & Wildlife Service office. He later used photography to pursue his passion for wildlife, with work published in the New York Times, National Geographic and Time magazine.

He has carved out a prestigious career as a photographer of environmental issues, working with NGOs such as Greenpeace, Manta Ray of Hope and Shark Foundation.

Australian photographer Ofer Levy's highly commended picture of a flying fox trying to beat the heat in Parramatta Park joins Hilton's photograph in the Australian Museum exhibition.

Swooping: Ofer Levy /Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Australian Museum.

Focusing on environmental and conservation issues, Hilton's photo essay Shark Fin was selected in the Nature Essay category of the World Press Photo Awards from more than 100,000 entries submitted by over 5,200 photographers.

Hilton's work is on show in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Australian Museum (to October 7, 2013) and the World Press Photo Award exhibition at the State Library of NSW (opens June 26).

Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor. Follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar