Chinanews,Beijing, June 1 - WildAid and Social Survey Institute of China (SSIC) released the result of their joint research on Chinese people's attitude toward the extinction of sharks on May 24 in Beijing, saying that most Chinese are not aware of the reason for the extinction of the species, but they strongly support the conservation of sharks.The research was conducted from November 2005 to February 2006, with the consumption of shark fins in China as its major topic.Actually, in many Asian countries, especially in China, shark fins still lead the trend of luxury consumption and high-end seafood market. Statistics show that the fins of 26 million to 76 million sharks are consumed every year. In 2004, the global consumption of sharks leaped by nearly 200% compared with 2003, from 4,900 tons to 13,600 tons.According to the research, most Chinese know nothing about how shark fins are acquired and processed, neither do they understand the low nutritious value of shark fins as food. Not many of them are aware of the risks to the global ecoenvironment posed by the extinction of sharks, not to mention that eating too many shark fins might harm one's health due to the high accumulation of hazardous material in the bodies of sharks.Currently, The World Conservation Union is pushing the EU, the biggest shark fin exporter, to stop exporting shark fins to China, the biggest shark fin consumer.At present, China is modifying the list of wildlife under national-level protection, and some sharks might be included.