Television show on Sharks

[fish_bowl]

Hi guys,

I was watching this television show on sharks and it was the neatest thing. They were showing different kinds and talking about if they were aggressive or dosile. The best part was the diver who was video taping the whale shark right in front of its face. I really want to see a whale shark now.

Did anyone else see the show on TV? I think it was on on Sunday night.

The part that made me sad though was the people catching the sharks for their fins. They had clips of huge hammer heads and other kinds of sharks (I'm not really sure what they were) but the people would cut all of their fins off and put them back in the water ALIVE.

it was kind of sad.

Then they went back into diving with sharks which looked cool.

Has anyone tried this?

just thought I would share what I saw.

Fish

 

[seahunter]

What would be preferable?
Should the fishermen ensure the shark is dead before the inedible parts are returned to the ocean?

 

[Butch103]

It is my understanding that much of the shark is edible.
If not where do the shark steaks come from?
Also what about the "miracle" sharke cartilage?, Do they just use the dorsal fin for this?

 

[Diversauras]

Most of the shark is edible and the practice of finning them decimates the population and wastes the majority of the animal, and there is only one real consumer of shark fins anyway. I think they are still picking on whales too.

Some places, finning is illegal and probably should be world wide. It's like harvesting chickens for their feet, imagine thousands and thousands of chickens stumbling around without feet It would be really hard to herd them wouldn't it?

 

[Boogie711]

Shark fins command a considerable premium over the rest of the still-edible, yet not as revenue-generating portion of the shark. As a result, unscrupulous shark hunters gather live sharks, haul them on board, lop off their fins and toss the still-living carcass overboard. The only saving grace is that the 'still living' carcass usually lasts a few seconds before being eaten alive by his shark colleagues in a feeding frenzy below.

Seahunter - your comment is sad, because you'd be outraged if people were rounding up puppies and harvesting them for their ears and tails before throwing them back out unto the street.

PETA hasn't launched a campaign against shark-finning yet, but they have launched a campaign against the Korean community for eating dog-meat.

I'm convinced it's because there are no rich liberals living in Berkeley, California, with a pet shark named Fido, looking for something to do with their money, but I digress.

 

[fish_bowl]

Seahunter - your comment is sad, because you'd be outraged if people were rounding up puppies and harvesting them for their ears and tails before throwing them back out unto the street.

I agree with this statement. Killing an animal just for one part is not really ideal. I mean I believe in fishing and hunting to sustain life but this is not right. The one thing I got from the program was how long it takes for sharks to reach maturity. I can't remember an exact age but its not one or two years. I think they said 6 to 7 years. and they only have a few young (5 to 6). So killing a large number of sharks for fins alone really harms the population. I hope they do make it illegal to fin. I have also heard that the drugs made from sharks are really a placebo anyway.

 

[seahunter]

My comment was designed to get a response - worked good eh?

Any waste of any form of a natural resource is criminal. It is not only wasteful but simple theft from the rest of us and for the worst possible reason - personal profit.

With respect to sharks specifically, I don't know if they are in danger or not. Nor do I know what may be the cause of any decrease in the shark population. There are a dozen reasons why that may be happening.
Unfortunately the many groups that claim to be experts in this area use exaggerated and unvalidated figures to shock people into supporting their cause. PETA is a perfect example. It would not be so bad if their cause was justifiable but many groups including PETA collect millions of dollars but only a tiny percentage is used for the protection of the animals. The vast majority of the money collected is used to perpetuate PETA, that is, internally to support the thousands of PETA 'volunteers' and to keep their name in front of the public so the public thinks they are doing some good and continues to send money. Kinda' reminds you of politicians - gets elected based on good intentions and then spends millions to convince you they're doing a good job so you'll re-elect them. If all the money collected actually went for the stated cause, the problem would be solved!
PETA hasn't a hope of stopping the consumption of dog meat in Korea nor should they!! Eating dogs or horses or cattle or any resource is perfectly normal and acceptable. How do you suppose the East Indians feel about us eating their most sacred animal - the cow?
Waste of the resource is the problem whether it's shark meat, dog meat, bears or cattle.

 

[fish_bowl]

I agree,

I took an environmental issues class and I don't believe in a lot of the environmental activists and animal rights groups. And I think you are right about different groups making things look worse then what they are. Perhaps there are only a few boats that were caught killing sharks only for their fins and now everyone is making a stink about it. Its just like the cancelation of the spring bear hunt. won't get into that. Its a touchy subject for me.

Anyway I just wanted to add that I think that it is so interesting that there are so many different kinds of sharks out there. I didn't even realize there were so many. I think I know about 5 shark names (hammer heads, whale, great white, lemon) but after watching that show I got to see some new and really interesting ones.

Fish

 

[No Fish]

I agree with Seahunter. It always pays to look into the details of an issue, from all perspectives. Emotion is a powerful tool.

Sometimes I wonder if some folks are really trying to make a difference or are they trying to make themselves feel better. (look into where most of your recycling goes)

BTW, I have eaten (and enjoy) shark but won't try shark fin soup. I don't like the idea of "finning" either.

 

[seahunter]

The term 'finning' and the image it conjures up is distasteful. I wonder if anyone knows exactly what parts of the shark are useful. That is, while the fins are certainly 'meaty' and are used in soups or broths or steaks, can other parts of the shark be eaten too?
I suppose the rest of the shark could be ground up and made into dog food for the Korean market (being a bit silly here).

Seriously though, does anyone know for sure if there is a use for the rest of the shark. Thinking about it ( I have caught and eaten shark), I'm not sure if there is much more to a shark other than the fins.