Help End Shark Finning and the sale of Shark Products

[divergal65]

Shark fin soup is almost exclusively a Chinese , not a Japanese, delicacy - I know, I'm Chinese (originally from Hong Kong), and my husbands relatives came from Japan. They had never heard of shark fin soup till they met my family.
Like others have mentioned, its served at banquets and very important events and is a sign of status. Its popularity is waning in the younger generations, so there might be hope on this front. Heck, even Yao Ming came out against it!

 

[starrlamia]

it's not only the fact that they are decimating populations of ALL species of shark (they do not discriminate) and the impact it has on the ocean's ecosystem which in turn directly effects our ecosystem. It's also the most horrific and blatant animal abuse that one can see (.. maybe not most but its up there). Taking a live animal, cutting off it's appendages while still alive and then throwing them into the water to drown is so incredibly terrible I dont understand how anyone could actually do it.

You could probably find sharkwater through a torrent site, it's also on solar movie via videobb, I just rewatched it the other day, such a great documentary.

 

[Mossman]

Shark fin soup is almost exclusively a Chinese , not a Japanese, delicacy - I know, I'm Chinese (originally from Hong Kong), and my husbands relatives came from Japan. They had never heard of shark fin soup till they met my family.

I re-read that post. He was calling Japanese the number one consumer of fish, not shark fins. Don't forget, it's not just shark populations that are being decimated. Still, that information might be correct per capita, but China as a country consumes the most fish.

"China, with the world's largest population, has the largest impact on the oceans. It leads all other countries in the amount of fish caught and consumed annually, and its demand continues to grow, according to the report.
Japan is the second-largest consumer, but it relies on imports to meet much of its demand. Peru ranked second in fish production, but most of the catch is small fish exported for industrial uses such animal feed.
China consumes about 694 million tonnes of ocean resources each year, compared with 582 million tonnes by Japan and 349 million by the United States -- which ranked third for production and consumption.
The preference of consumers in Japan and the U.S. for top predator fish such as tuna and salmon means their consumption has a relatively larger impact on the ocean environment, according to the report" -- Reuters, 9/22/2010

 

[divergal65]

Hi Mossman,

The Reuters report is hard to argue with. China's new found wealth and rise of nearly 300 million people to "middle class" status is going to be a challenge for the worlds oceans .
I struggle with this every time I go out with the family to weddings and banquets where shark fin soup is served. The family knows I'm a scuba diver and ask if I've seen sharks (they mainly think I'm crazy to even be diving in the first place) and I tell them I have seen sharks on several occasions. I try to convey to them that the sharks were in the oceans a long time before we were, so they don't really have a taste for man(or women) - they evolved eating other fish. I say that most sharks are either somewhat curious or even non chalant in our presence.So I'm trying to let them know that not all sharks are blood thirsty man eaters; most of the sharks I've seen either swim away or don't exhibit any aggressive behavior at all. I haven't dove with Great Whites (yet) but have seen some nurse sharks (harmless unless provoked) and some grey reef sharks. I also try to tell them that if Sharks either become extinct or their numbers are so threatened that their prey increase in numbers, the consequences could be disastrous for other fish. I read a book this summer called "Demon Fish" about how the decimation of sharks have led to subsequent decimations of other edible aquatic life like scallops, crabs and, lobsters, to name a few

Sharks, Soup, and the Domino Effect Destroying Our Oceans - Barry Estabrook - Life - The Atlantic

I tell them if sharks go, most of their yummy seafood goes too, unless they like eating rays. My relatives still look at me like I'm crazy, but I keep trying. I think most of my younger nieces and nephews "get it" but the older generations believe its a part of their culture. I remind them that binding womens feet was once a cultural tradition too, but that ended.
So in time I think education will make a difference.
My nephew got married this summer and one thing he didn't include on the banquet menu was shark fin soup, so I counted that as a victory.

 

[divergal65]

delete duplicate post

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

If multi-national corporations wants to go to china and exploit its population and have a by-product a small niche of capitalist elite that will conspicuously consume whatever it wants, then it is shark fin that they will wants, not just beemers and rolexes.

If the South did not decide to secede from the US, we might still be consuming slavery.

 

[highdesert]

If multi-national corporations wants to go to china and exploit its population and have a by-product a small niche of capitalist elite that will conspicuously consume whatever it wants, then it is shark fin that they will wants, not just beemers and rolexes.

If the South did not decide to secede from the US, we might still be consuming slavery.

Huh ...?

 

[Mike]

The bottom line is you don't put any species into the endangered species list. Even though it doesn't take a genius to realize cutting fins and wasting the rest of the shark is reason enough not to do what is being done, it certainly takes nothing higher up than a moron to understand you don't over harvest anything to the point it's endangered.

 

[XxMerlinxX]

With all that in mind, I don't think that a little mercury is all that bad for you.

This explains a lot...

 

[buddhasummer]

I can't find "Sharkwater" available for free online, except in 10-minute pieces at Youtube. If anyone has an interest, the first segment is here ...

Sharkwater Part 1 of 9 - YouTube

Go to "Torrent scan" and then into "BT junkie"...you will find a HD copy of Sharkwater there.