Shark fin soup drives sharks at the brink of extinction
Shark fin soup is a popular delicacy in China, and is eaten in Chinese restaurants around the world. Many people, especially the consumers, are unaware of the sufferring that finning causes.
Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Shark finning is the barbaric practice of slicing off the shark's fins while the shark is still alive and throwing the rest of its body back into the ocean where it can take days to die what must be an agonising death. Some sharks starve to death, others are slowly eaten by other fish, and some drown, because sharks need to keep moving to force water through their gills for oxygen.
Fishermen are only interested in the fins because shark meat is of low economical value and takes up too much space in the hold. It also contains urea, which turns to ammonia once the shark has died and contaminates other fish.
Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%. Due to the clandestine nature of finning, records are rarely kept of the numbers of sharks and species caught. Estimates are based on declared imports to shark fin markets such as Hong Kong and China.
Demand for shark fin soup has rocketed in recent years due to the increased prosperity of China and other countries in the Far East. Shark fin soup, which can easily cost $100 a bowl, is often served at wedding celebrations so that the hosts can impress their guests with their affluence. Because there is such a high demand for shark fins, traders can make a lot of money from shark fin, but it is the restaurant owners who really "make a killing" in this foul trade.
In shark fin soup, the fins themselves are virtually tasteless. The taste comes from the soup, while the fins are valued for their texture.
Chinese culture has lauded shark fins' alleged properties to boost sexual potency, enhance skin quality, increase one's energy, prevent heart disease, and lower cholesterol.
Vitamin content of typical shark fin soup is much less than that of typical vegetable soup, containing almost no vitamin A. However, it contains slightly more iron, zinc, riboflavin, and phosphorus than normal vegetable soup. If consumed in extremely large quantities, shark fin soup may cause sterility in men due to mercury content. The FDA recommends pregnant women and young children avoid eating shark fins.
PLEASE do NEVER order this dish. Inform others, make wise decisions and play an active role in
securing the future for all to enjoy.
Visit "Stop Shark Finning" to find out more and please sign these PETITIONS. Thank you!
securing the future for all to enjoy.
Visit "Stop Shark Finning" to find out more and please sign these PETITIONS. Thank you!
March 2012 - Thousands of shark fins drying on a sidewalk in Hong Kong
Gary Stokes of Sea Shepherd Hong Kong captured this shocking footage on March 1st, 2012 in the Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong. Thousands of sharks were discovered drying on a sidewalk which is quite rare even for Hong Kong. This normally occurs behind closed doors and in secret locations.
Hong Kong imported 10 million kilograms of shark fins in 2011
By John R. Platt - July 18, 2012
The appearance of a shark fin piercing the ocean surface is often seen as a sign of danger to humans. Even more dangerous to sharks is the sight of a shark fin floating in a bowl of soup.
Around the world, sharks are in crisis. Many species have suffered population declines of 90 to 99 percent in recent decades, mostly to feed the seemingly endless demand for the tasteless concoction known as shark fin soup, which is served to mark important occasions such as weddings and business deals in China and some other Asian communities. An astonishing 10.3 million kilograms of shark fins and shark fin–based products were imported into Hong Kong in 2011, according to statistics released last week by The Pew Charitable Trusts Environmental Group in the report, Navigating Global Shark Conservation: Current Measures and Gaps (pdf). The organization says Hong Kong imports about half of the world shark fin harvest.
The Pew group obtained these figures from the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, but even they don’t tell the whole story. Previous research (pdf ) has estimated the total worldwide shark fin catch to be three to four times what is legally reported. Because so much of the shark trade is illegal and carried out in the black market, the true total number of sharks killed each year is impossible to ascertain, but the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and other organizations estimate it at more than 100 million . Another group, Shark Defenders , puts the annual average at 38 million, citing the same 2006 research that quantified the shark-fin trade.
Another hidden part of the story, according to the Pew report, is the types of sharks being caught. Many of the nations that allow shark fishing do not require good record-keeping and allow fishermen to log all of their catches simply as “sharks” rather than specific shark species. Some nations even report their take in extremely broad categories such as “sharks, rays, skates, etcetera,” so there’s no specificity to what their fishing fleets actually landed.
The wide range of regional shark protections—or non-protections, as is often the case—also presents problems, according to the report, which presents a picture of what it dubs “an inadequate patchwork of varying measures at the domestic, regional and international levels for trade regulation or shark protection.” The report found that only one third of the countries where shark fishing takes place bans shark finning—the practice of catching a shark, stripping it of its fins and dumping the body (often still alive) back into the water. Pew also found that few nations have laws in place to protect individual shark species—even if species found in their waters are threatened or endangered. And then there is the challenge of enforcement, even where regulations exist.
Only three shark species are globally protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) and whale shark (Rhincodon typus).
Another hidden part of the story, according to the Pew report, is the types of sharks being caught. Many of the nations that allow shark fishing do not require good record-keeping and allow fishermen to log all of their catches simply as “sharks” rather than specific shark species. Some nations even report their take in extremely broad categories such as “sharks, rays, skates, etcetera,” so there’s no specificity to what their fishing fleets actually landed.
The wide range of regional shark protections—or non-protections, as is often the case—also presents problems, according to the report, which presents a picture of what it dubs “an inadequate patchwork of varying measures at the domestic, regional and international levels for trade regulation or shark protection.” The report found that only one third of the countries where shark fishing takes place bans shark finning—the practice of catching a shark, stripping it of its fins and dumping the body (often still alive) back into the water. Pew also found that few nations have laws in place to protect individual shark species—even if species found in their waters are threatened or endangered. And then there is the challenge of enforcement, even where regulations exist.
Only three shark species are globally protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) and whale shark (Rhincodon typus).
So where did all of the shark fins imported into Hong Kong come from? Spain, it turns out, was the number-one source. Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates rounded out the top five. The U.S. was the ninth-largest source of shark fins imported into Hong Kong.
The report does not count sharks caught by Chinese fishing vessels for sale within Hong Kong and mainland China.
The Pew Environmental Group makes several recommendations in its report, including banning all fishing of any shark species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as threatened or endangered and developing science-based management plans for all other shark species. The IUCN lists 480 shark species on its Red List of Threatened Species, 150 of which are listed as threatened or near threatened. Of the 62 shark species that are considered “highly migratory”—and therefore most likely to cross national boundaries, which makes them harder to protect amidst the patchwork of regulations—82 percent are listed as threatened or near threatened. More than 200 of those species lack sufficient data for assessments to be made of their health and conservation status.
Shark finning is falling out of favor in a few places, albeit slowly. A handful of U.S. states have banned shark fishing or—as Illinois did earlier this month—the possession, sale, trade or distribution of shark fins. Even China itself just announced that it will stop serving shark fin soup at official banquets —in approximately three years.
Source
Approximately 18 thousand shark fins are left out to dry on top of a roof top of an industrial building in Hong Kong's Kennedy Town district, Hong Kong, China, 02 January 2013. Shark fin traders have taken to drying freshly sliced fins from sharks on roof tops in the city, since a public outcry in 2010 over them drying the fins on public sidewalks fored them to move the trade out of sight. Photo: EPA/Paul Hilton - via Huffington Post
Sharks receive improved
trade protection measures
Via TRAFFIC - Bangkok, Thailand, 11th March—Governments at a United Nations meeting on wildlife trade today voted for better international trade controls for shark species that are in severe decline because of overfishing for their high-value fins and meat.
Three proposals were successful in listing five shark species under Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
Under Appendix II strict measures will be put in place to regulate the international trade in the fins and meat of the species concerned. Governments have been given up to 18 months to implement the new measures.
Five species—Oceanic Whitetip, Scalloped Hammerhead, Great Hammerhead, Smooth Hammerhead and Porbeagle sharks—all obtained the two-thirds majority amongst voting governments to become included under Appendix II of the Convention.
They include the first sharks to be listed under CITES because of concerns over the level of trade in their fins. The Porbeagle is primarily traded for its meat. The global value of the trade in shark fin industry is estimated by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to be around $478 million per year.
The sharks discussed at today’s meeting are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they are all slow growing, late to mature, long-living and produce few young, which means it is difficult for populations to recover from overfishing.
Some populations of the shark species listed, including the Ocean Whitetip shark, have declined by more than 90%.
Previous attempts to list shark species impacted by international trade for their fins and meat at CITES have failed, in part because of disagreement over which body was the most appropriate one to manage marine species. They included the Porbeagle shark, which was initially voted onto Appendix II, but later the decision overturned during a final conference plenary session.
Conservationists were bitterly disappointed at the time, and while today’s decisions were warmly welcomed, the potential for them to be overturned later in the meeting remains.
“Todays’s outcome could be a turning point in how CITES can assist in the regulation of trade in marine species,” said Glenn Sant, Marine Programme leader with TRAFFIC.
“If accepted in plenary, this meeting will go down in history as the one where CITES finally realised its marine potential.”
“It’s a bittersweet day for sharks,” said Sant. “While their adoption on CITES is warmly welcomed, it’s a sad indictment that their populations have fallen to such a low level that such measures have become a necessity.
Also being discussed today are proposals to list Manta rays. The species are at risk of overharvesting because for similar reasons to sharks. They are predominantly caught for their highly valued gill plates.