Shark fin soup...

[Irishdiver]

According to the BBC news, an estimated 100 MILLION sharks are killed each year for shark fin soup.

That seems like a crazy figure to me...if it's right, it's appalling. If it's wrong, I wonder what is the correct figure? And is there no regulation of this trade?

Apparently, sharks are caught, their fins sliced off, and they're thrown back into the water to die...the fin soup is a delicacy and fetches a lot of cash but the dead fish is a terrible waste of life.

I enjoy shark steaks, though I've never eaten shark fin soup. Now I'm wondering about the morality of eating shark at all.

See this link to the Shark story

 

[Scubaroo]

Here's a related article on the declining number of sharks in the atlantic:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/sharks030117.html

Do a Google search on "declining shark numbers atlantic" and you'll find a number of similar articles.

I won't patronise restaurants that serve shark fin soup. Unfortunately it is going to take more than selective restaurant dining to change this global demand.

Here's an article on the shark fin trade right here in San Francisco! The authors claim they never saw fins being offered for less than $100 a pound.

http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI4_99e/sanfrancisco.html

I'm going to have to check that out myself.

 

[Nudibranch]

The article I found listed 10s of millions of sharks with100 million tonnes globally. There is no regulation on this fishery in most places. It has been going on for years but it is difficult to get the general public behind the protection of sharks.
Here is a link to the article I found:
http://www.thailandlife.com/sharkfinsoup.html

 

[Scubaroo]

http://www.sharkfin.com

San Francisco based distributer of shark fins.

 

[SubMariner]

I think not only should we boycott businesses who purchase & sell shark fins, but we should also start a big write in campaign to their websites.

If we fill their email boxes full of protests, then they will have a hard time filling orders over the Internet!

Comments?

~SubMariner~

 

[Rick Murchison]

Shark finning is banned in United States waters. US quotas on shark takes have been reduced about 50% overall, with several species banned completely, the most recent being the whale shark.
Efforts continue, and some limited recovery in local populations has been recorded - and attacked as a reason for "increased shark attacks" (the charge was made during the sensationalism of shark attacks in the summer of 2001 - in fact a below average year for shark attacks but a slow news year before September).
Education of our own fishing fleet on management for sustainable populations of all food species is making headway, and if we can keep poaching under control we may actually save the shark populations in our waters.
The open ocean isn't so easy, as non-US flag ships can pretty much do as they please, and there are plenty of "haven flags" under which there is essentially no regulation at all.
Rick

 

[Scubaroo]

Rick Murchison once bubbled...
Shark finning is banned in United States waters.

So importation of shark fins is still permitted? Otherwise it would not be possible to buy them in San Francisco (and probably elsewhere) so readily. I'm going to have to take a stroll through the Chinatown district in tourist mode with my digital camera and see if there are still boxes of shark fins for sale like in the link I posted.

A quick search of Google revealed at least two shark fin distributers in San Francisco.

 

[diverkim]

This is a difficult one for a boycott to affect because the major consumers of shark fin soup are the Taiwanese, Singaporeans, Chinese, and to some extent the Japanese.
North American and European Chinese restaurants account for a neglible part of the market in shark fins, I believe.
BTW, PADI has a shark awareness program dedicated to the preservation of sharks among other points.

 

[cyklon_300]

is adequately described, a large number of the sharks are finned and dumped overboard while still alive. Without fins, they are unable to swim or feed and die of predation or starvation.

Sounds like a senseless, gruesome waste of an ecologically valuable marine animal.

 

[Irishdiver]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
Here's an article on the shark fin trade right here in San Francisco! The authors claim they never saw fins being offered for less than $100 a pound.

http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI4_99e/sanfrancisco.html

I'm going to have to check that out myself.

Hi all. I'm still having problems with the figures.

The BBC says that an estimated 100 million sharks are killed in this way each year. You, Scoobaroo, say that the fins sell for $100 per pound....maths was never my strong point, but doesn't that come out at $10 BILLION (ten thousand million), presuming each shark yields one pound of fin? Is it possible for this global industry to be such a huge money spinner and for the entire world not to have heard about it on a regular basis?

Of course, it seems like a crying shame, no matter if it's just one shark being killed in such an inhumane way. But a hundred million sounds like it could be a long way off the mark, and the BBC does make it plain that it's just an estimate.

If nudibranch is right, and it's tens of millions, then how many tens of millions of shark will make up 100 million tonnes? Surely it would take hundreds of shark to produce just a tonne of fins?

I have to say that I find the figures hard to reconcile and I have a suspicion that they've been exaggerated somewhere along the line.