Shark Finning

Shark Fin Soup.

Do you like this?
Where are they from?


What happen to the shark after this?


Where will they go?


What is 'shark finning'?
It's a form of fishing intended to satisfy the Asian market for shark fin soup (Hong Kong accounts for 70% of this market) and Chinese medicine. Once hooked, the shark is roughly dragged onto the fishing boat, the dorsal, pectoral and tail fins are sliced off, and the rest of the body is thrown back into the sea. If the shark doesn't get tangled up and drown (sharks need to keep moving to allow water to pass over their gills so they can take oxygen from the water) it is butchered alive, and it normally takes hours or even days for the shark to die.

Shark fin soup
Often served at weddings and other formal banquets in Asia, shark fin soup is a delicacy and an indication of status. Shark fin is tasteless, all the flavour of the soup coming from the chicken or fish stock base. It may also be dangerous - mercury poisoning from industrial waste is common in sharks, and that mercury is passed on to people eating the fins. Mercury never leaves your body, it simply builds up, and at toxic levels causes insanity and death.

Chinese medicine:
Sharks are considered healthy creatures - many maladies that affect man don't affect sharks. It has been clinically proven that shark fins contain no medicinally beneficial compounds, and there is no evidence of anyone ever having been helped by consuming shark fin.

So what's the problem?
* Barbarous manner in which shark finning is done.
* At present, approximately 100 million sharks are being killed for this market each year.
* We have already lost 90% of the world's population of sharks.
* Sharks eat a lot of fish, maintaining the balance of fish populations. Fewer sharks means more fish. More fish means creatures lower down the food chain are consumed in much larger numbers. Amongst these creatures are oxygen producing plankton and algae: tiny lifeforms that consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen as a byproduct. Plankton produces 70% of world oxygen.

What can We do?
* To start with, don't eat shark fin soup, and don't eat in any restaurant that sells it. If possible, let them know why you choose not to eat there.
* Don't take any so-called medicine that contains shark fin. It has no medical benefit, and probably contains toxic mercury.
* Watch the movie "Sharkwater" by Rob Stewart. It shows clearly how this industry works and how brutal it is. it also shows you the outstanding beauty of sharks and dispels the myths about the dangers of sharks. Essential viewing.
* Learn all you can about sharks and shark finning, it's effects on the environment and educate your friends.



Watch Sharkwater for free in Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vog3z1NsMYU

Short video related to Sharkwater:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC66ACRpBH8

Credits to:
- Rob Stewart & Crews
- http://www.savingsharks.com/
- http://www.sharkwater.com/
- http://www.masterdivers.co.uk/shark_finning.html

(Shared by Mr. Siow)