H2Andy:does anyone know what percentage of sharks are harvested solely for their fins?
also... does anyone know what percentage of sharks are finned and then thrown
back and left to die?
Don't really know the number technically the whole shark is quite valuable as sharkskin can be used in certain leather industry and cosmetic company do use certain internal parts of sharks. So there are some fisherman who do harvest the whole shark. What I find rather disturbing though is that once in awhile, Asian Diver magazine would report a boat being captured in Palau for poaching for sharkfins.
One time they captured a fishing boat that had 3 tons of sharkfins on board (no sharks, just the fins). They burned all the fins after capture and refulsed to give in to the commercial gain of such activity.