Shark Fin Soup Demand Feeding Extinctions

(AP)  Surging demand for shark fin soup among Asia's booming middle classes is driving many species of these big fish to the brink of extinction, a marine conservation group said Tuesday.

Oceana, in a report released Tuesday at a U.N. endangered species meeting, found that up to 73 million sharks are killed each year, primarily for their fins.

As a result, some populations have plummeted by as much as 83 percent, prompting the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to consider proposals at its two-week meeting in Doha to regulate the shark trade.

At least eight shark species, including the scalloped hammerhead and the oceanic whitetip, are being considered for CITES listing which would put some controls on their export.

"The global shark fin trade is driving the oceans to collapse," Courtney Sakai, a senior campaign director at Oceana, said in a statement. "Trade measures are the most direct way to ensure that the powerful economic incentives to catch sharks do not lead to their extinction."

Shark fin soup has long played central part in traditional Chinese culture, often being served at weddings and banquets. But demand for the soup has surged as increasing numbers of mostly Chinese middle class search for ways to spend their newfound wealth.

Oceana estimated that Hong Kong alone imports 10 million kilos of shark fin each year from as many as 87 countries, with Spain, Singapore and Taiwan being the biggest suppliers. The shark fin industry is also a lucrative one, with a bowl of shark fin soup running as high as $100 and the fin itself costing $1,300.

Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overexploitation because they generally grow slowly and live long lives. Their relatively low reproductive rates mean their populations are slow to recover once overfished.

Along with sharks, delegates at the U.N. conference are considering nearly four dozen proposals on a range of species from rhinos to polar bears.

Later this week, they will debate a proposal from Monaco for an all-out ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a contentious issue that has the countries of Asia and the West locking horns over a fish prized in sushi.


Origins of Shark Fin Exports to Hong Kong, 2008
From Oceana Report

Total product weight in kilograms
Spain   2,646,442
Singapore   1,201,236
Taiwan   990,664
Indonesia   681,012
United Arab Emirates   511,197
Costa Rica   327,385
United States   251,310
Yemen   226,738
Mexico   216,833
Brazil   200,732


For more info:
"The International Trade of Shark Fins: Endangering Shark Populations Worldwide" (Oceana Report)
New Report About Impact of Global Shark Fin Trade on Oceans (Oceana Press Release, 3.16.10)
By AP Environmental Writer Michael Casey

[nathanc78]

The reality is that shark fin soup is sold all over the world. Here, where I live in San Diego, CA, the soup is sold in a dozen or more restaurants. One major way of stopping the shark finning trade is to quell demand for shark fin soup. As a passionate scuba diver and underwater photographer, I've created a resource center on my website to educate people on shark finning and to offer resources in reversing this trend. Hopefully our generation can save these animals before it's too late!

http://www.sensoryescapeimages.com/what-is-shark-finning/

Nathan Ciurzynski
www.SensoryEscapeImages.com

[ToolMangler1]

When all the shouting is done, it boils down to this. cut back on the Earths population or starve, There is no place to go where things are better.

[cdepiano]

Your comment makes no sense ToolMangler1. Finning is when the cut the sharks fins off and then throw the poor sharks back into the water still alive. If it was a matter of starvation I am sure they wouldn't waste the rest of the shark meat. From the reading I have done the soup is a status symbol for the asian middle class. All that inhumane slaughter to prove at your daughter's wedding that you have financially "made it" is absolutely ridiculous. Furthermore, to think that killing millions of sharks each year will not have an effect on the ecosystem, therefore affecting us, is just uneducated ignorance.

[vietnamwar]

how about COWS,PIGS,CHICKENS....

[ClownsOnLeft_Jokers2Right]

Friggan Asians. Can't live with 'em...can't kill 'em.

[porcine_aviator]

Don't kill them, just let them starve. If they refuse to acknowledge reality, let them live (or, well, die) with the consequences.

[Empire-George-]

Since sharks have very few natural predators, there seems to be no lessening of the shark populations around the earth.....however, overfishing of sharks, leads to a over-population of seals/sea lions, which in turn, leads to the reduction in fish population, which is a problem for us.

It's about time to take "shark-fin soup" off the menu.

[curse914]

Maybe you have not been paying attention George, but starving seals and sea birds have been washing ashore for a few years now.

What is your theory on that lit bit of observed evidence?

[tsigili]

Basically, the Asians, who are into all of these "special concoctions" for "super strength" culture, are killing off the world's oceans, as well as some of its land predators.

Humans everywhere, have zero respect for any other creature, plant or animal.

[porcine_aviator]

Don't worry, living beyond one's means eventually hits the concrete wall of reality eventually. And, yes, people will die. It is our responsibility to see to it that it is the fools who die, and not us.

[msay3]

Hey!! Maybe now they will let the dogs alone....

[curse914]

Its ok, China's form of Capitalism has no regulations to protect the environment or the laborer; there are no pesky regulations to hamper profit.

So to "compete" the United States laborer needs to return the Gilded Age sweat shop, ushering in the era of the food chain collapse and mass extinction.

[porcine_aviator]

No, we simply need to step back and let the chinese kill themselves off with pollution and fisheries collapse. Our job as citizens is to ensure that our government doesn't do the stupid thing and send them food and medical aid once the die-off occurs...otherwise, we ALL will pay the price.