Shark finning
Encyclopedia
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
fin
Fin
A fin is a surface used for stability and/or to produce lift and thrust or to steer while traveling in water, air, or other fluid media, . The first use of the word was for the limbs of fish, but has been extended to include other animal limbs and man-made devices...
s and the discarding of the rest of the fish. Shark finning takes place at sea so the fishers only have to transport the fins.
Shark finning is widespread, and largely unmanaged and unmonitored. Shark finning has increased over the past decade largely due to the increasing demand for shark fins for shark fin soup
Shark fin soup
Shark fin soup is a popular soup item of Chinese cuisine usually served at special occasions such as weddings and banquets, or as a luxury item in Chinese culture. The shark fins provide texture while the taste comes from the other soup ingredients.There is controversy over the practice of shark...
and traditional cures particularly in China and its territories, and as a result of improved fishing technology and market economics.
Some researchers believe that from 1996 to 2000, 26 to 73 million sharks were traded yearly. The annual median for the period was 38 million, nearly four times more than the UN estimates but considerably lower than those of many conservationists. Shark fins are a billion dollar industry.
Process
According to wildlife conservationWildlife conservation
Wildlife conservation is the preservation, protection, or restoration of wildlife and their environment, especially in relation to endangered and vulnerable species. All living non-domesticated animals, even if bred, hatched or born in captivity, are considered wild animals. Wildlife represents all...
much of the sharks' fin trade uses fins cut from living sharks, called finning. Because shark meat is worth much less, the now finless and often still-living sharks are thrown back into the sea to make room for more of the valuable fins. In the ocean, the sharks either die from suffocation
Suffocation
Suffocation is the process of Asphyxia.Suffocation may also refer to:* Suffocation , an American death metal band* "Suffocation", a song on Morbid Angel's debut album, Altars of Madness...
or are eaten because they are unable to move normally.
Impact and reporting
According to Giam Choo Hoo, the longest serving member of The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Animals Committee, "The perception that it is common practice to kill sharks for only their fins - and to cut them off whilst the sharks are still alive - is wrong.... The vast majority of fins in the market are taken from sharks after their death."However, some researchers dispute this claim after extensive examination of fin sourcing and fisheries data; one study of sharks harvested for their valuable fins estimates that between 26-73 million sharks are killed each year worldwide, which is almost three times higher than official Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
estimates.
The crew of the conservation vessel Ocean Warrior witnessed and photographed industrial-scale finning within Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
's Cocos Island National Park protected marine area. The practice is featured in the documentary Sharks: Stewards of the Reef, which contains footage from Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and also examines shark finning's cultural, financial and ecological impacts. Underwater photographer Richard Merritt also has witnessed finning of living sharks in Indonesia where he saw immobile finless sharks lying on the sea bed still alive below the fishing boat. Finning has been witnessed and filmed within a protected marine area in the Raja Ampat islands of Indonesia.
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
groups vigorously oppose finning on moral grounds and also because it is one cause for the rapid decline of global shark population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
s. On the IUCN red list
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
there are 39 species of elasmobranches (sharks and rays) listed as threatened species (Critically Endangered, Endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
or Vulnerable
Vulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...
). CITES lists three sharks in Appendix II: the basking shark
Basking shark
The basking shark is the second largest living fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world's temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder and has anatomical adaptations to filter feeding, such as a greatly enlarged...
, the great white shark
Great white shark
The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached...
, and the whale shark
Whale shark
The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow-moving filter feeding shark, the largest extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of and a weight of more than , but unconfirmed claims report considerably larger whale sharks...
. Appendix II lists those species that are not in danger of extinction, but which require controls on international trade to maintain their populations. It is estimated that 10–100 million sharks are slaughtered each year for their fins with a median figure of 38 million. The industry is valued at US$1.2 billion; because of the lucrative profits, there are allegations of links to organized crime. They also raise questions on the medical harm from the consumption of high levels of toxic mercury reportedly found in shark fins.
Some organizations claim that shark fishing or bycatch
Bycatch
The term “bycatch” is usually used for fish caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish. It may however also indicate untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting...
(the unintentional capture of species by other fisheries) is the reason for the decline in some species' populations and that the market for fins has very little impact – bycatch accounts for an estimated 50% of all sharks taken – others that the market for shark fin soup is the main reason for the decline. Tommy Cheung
Tommy Cheung
Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, SBS, JP is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , representing the catering industry in functional constituencies seats. He was a member of the Liberal Party.-Career:...
, the legislator representing Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
's catering sector, said: "I don't believe sharks are an endangered species. Some species of shark may be, but not all shark's fin comes from certain species. There are a lot of species that are plentiful." There is no reliable count for the numbers taken in the shark fin trade and thus it is hard to prove the claims on either side of the argument.
According to Giam's article, "sharks are caught virtually all parts of the world. Despite the strongly declared objectives of the Fisheries Commission in Brussels, there are very few restrictions on fishing for sharks in European waters. The meat of dogfish
Squaliformes
Squaliformes is an order of sharks that includes about 97 species in seven families.Members of the order have two dorsal fins, which usually possess spines, no anal fin or nictitating membrane, and five gill slits. In most other respects, however, they are quite variable in form and size...
es, smoothhounds, cat sharks, skates and rays
Batoidea
Batoidea is a superorder of cartilaginous fish commonly known as rays and skates, containing more than 500 described species in thirteen families...
is in high demand by European consumers...The situation in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States is similar: the blue shark
Blue shark
The blue shark is a species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, that inhabits deep waters in the world's temperate and tropical oceans. Preferring cooler waters, blue sharks migrate long distances, for example from New England to South America. Although generally lethargic, they can move very...
is sought after as a sport fish while the porbeagle
Porbeagle
The porbeagle is a species of mackerel shark in the family Lamnidae, distributed widely in the cold and temperate marine waters of the North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere. In the North Pacific, its ecological equivalent is the closely related salmon shark...
, mako
Shortfin mako shark
The shortfin mako shark, Isurus oxyrinchus , is a large mackerel shark. Along with the closely related longfin mako it is commonly referred to as a "mako shark".-Etymology:...
and spiny dogfish
Spiny dogfish
The spiny dogfish, spurdog, mud shark, or piked dogfish, Squalus acanthias, is one of the best known of the dogfish which are members of the family Squalidae in the order Squaliformes. While these common names may apply to several species, Squalus acanthias is distinguished by having two spines ...
are part of the commercial fishery...the truth is this: Sharks will continue to be caught and killed on a wide scale by the more organized and sophisticated fishing nations...targeting shark's fin soup will not stop this accidental catch. The fins from these catches will be thrown away or turned into animal feed and fertilizers if shark's fin soup is shunned."
In March 2011, the VOA Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
service of the Voice of America broadcast a 15-minute science program on shark finning.
International reaction
Many countries now prohibit finning; however, many international watersInternational waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...
are unregulated. International fishing authorities are considering banning shark fishing (and finning) in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Finning is banned in the Eastern Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, but shark fishing and finning continues unabated in most of the Pacific and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. In countries such as Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, public awareness advertisements on finning have reportedly reduced consumption by 25%. In 2007, Canadian filmmaker and biologist Rob Stewart
Rob Stewart (filmmaker)
Rob Stewart is an Canadian photographer and movie director/filmmaker, best known for making and directing the multi-award-winning movie Sharkwater.-Biography:...
created a film, Sharkwater
Sharkwater
Sharkwater is a 2007 Canadian documentary film written and directed by Rob Stewart, who also narrates it. In the film, Stewart seeks to deflate current attitudes about sharks, and exposes how the voracious shark-hunting industry is driving them to extinction.Filmed in high definition video,...
, which exposes the shark fin industry in detail.
Canada
Shark's fins and soups with them are banned or bans being phased in a few of cities in Southern OntarioSouthern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
through the passage of new bylaws:
- TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
38 to 4 vote - Oakville, OntarioOakville, OntarioOakville is a town in Halton Region, on Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. As of the 2006 census the population was 165,613.-History:In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road...
7 to 0 vote - Mississauga, OntarioMississauga, OntarioMississauga is a city in Southern Ontario located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, and in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. With an estimated population of 734,000, it is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, and has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades...
11 to 0 vote - Brantford, OntarioBrantford, OntarioBrantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...
11 to 0 vote - first city to ban it in Canada
The ban is only significant in Toronto and Mississauga, where Chinese restaurants serve shark's fin can be found.
So far Markham
Markham, Ontario
Markham is a town in the Regional Municipality of York, located within the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario, Canada. The population was 261,573 at the 2006 Canadian census...
and Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Richmond Hill is a town located in Southern Ontario, Canada in the central portion of York Region, Ontario. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area, being located about halfway between Toronto and Lake Simcoe...
have opted not to bring forth the motion and suggest this issue is a federal matter. Chinese restaurants and businesses selling shark's fin oppose the ban and suggest they will challenge the by-laws before the courts once fines are imposed.
China
Yao Ming
Yao Ming is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association...
pledged to stop eating shark fin soup at a news conference on August 2, 2006. Yao's comments were largely unreported in the Chinese media and drew a reproach from Chinese seafood industry associations. Ironically, shark fin soup was on Yao Ming's wedding dinner menu. U.S. basketball player Tracy McGrady
Tracy McGrady
Tracy Lamar McGrady, Jr., is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Detroit Pistons.Entering the league after graduating from high school, McGrady eventually became a seven-time All-Star. He led the league in scoring in 2003 and 2004. He has also played for the Toronto...
, a team mate of Yao's, reportedly said that he was impressed by the soup when he tried it for the first time, but was criticized by the Hong Kong branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
for his remark. Late Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n naturalist Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
was known to walk out of Chinese restaurants if he saw shark fin soup on the menu. The Chinese-American chef Ken Hom
Ken Hom
Ken Hom OBE with ancestry from Taishan, Guangdong is a notable Chinese American chef, author and British television-show presenter. In 2009 he was awarded by HM The Queen with an honorary OBE for ‘services to culinary arts’...
sees the West doing little to protect stocks of cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
and caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
-producing sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
despite the outcry over shark-finning, but he also stresses the wastefulness of harvesting only the fins.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong DisneylandHong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is the first theme park located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks. The park opened to visitors on 12 September 2005...
dropped shark fin soup from its wedding banquet menu after international pressure from environmental groups, who threatened to boycott its parks worldwide despite the high demand for the delicacy in China. The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. Its motto is "Sapientia et Virtus" in Latin, meaning "wisdom and virtue", and "" in Chinese...
has banned shark fin soup on campus.
The Peninsula Hotel, a legendary Hong Kong landmark, banned shark fin effective January 1, 2012 http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/eat/peninsula-shark-fin-ban-491245
Malaysia
On September 15, 2007, Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Ministry Azmi KhalidAzmi Khalid
Dato' Seri Azmi Khalid is a Member of Parliament in Malaysia for the constituency of Padang Besar in Perlis. He is a member of UMNO in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition....
banned shark's fin soup from official
Official
An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...
functions committing to the Malaysian Nature Society
Malaysian Nature Society
Malaysian Nature Society is the oldest and one of the most prominent environmental not for profit, non-governmental organizations in Malaysia. It was first established, as the Malayan Nature Society, with the launch of the Malayan Nature Journal, in 1940...
(for conservation of shark species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
).
New Zealand
The great white sharks have been given full protection in the territorial waters of New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
but shark finning is legal on other shark species if the shark is dead. The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand
The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. is an environmental organisation specialising in conservation of indigenous plant and animal life in and around New Zealand....
are campaigning to raise awareness of shark finning and a number of foodies have fronted the campaign.
Palau
In 2009, the Republic of Palau created the world's first shark sanctuaryShark sanctuary
A shark sanctuary is an area that forbids commercial fishing operations from catching any shark. As of 2011, four nations have signed shark sanctuaries into law.-History:...
. It is illegal to catch sharks within Palau's EEZ, which covers an area of 230000 square miles (595,697.3 km²). This is an area about the size of France. President Johnson Toribiong
Johnson Toribiong
Johnson Toribiong is a Palauan attorney and politician who is the current President of Palau, following his victory in the November 2008 election.-Background and earlier career:...
also called for a ban on global shark finning, stating: "These creatures are being slaughtered and are perhaps at the brink of extinction unless we take positive action to protect them."
Singapore
Leading SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
-based supermarket chain Cold Storage (supermarket)
Cold Storage (supermarket)
Cold Storage is the second-largest supermarket chain in Singapore behind NTUC FairPrice, owned by Dairy Farm International Holdings.It operates 3 supermarket brands in Singapore and Malaysia; Cold Storage , Market Place and Shop N Save .-History:Established in 1903, Cold Storage started as a small...
, has joined the World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
Singapore Sustainable seafood
Sustainable seafood
Sustainable seafood is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired...
Group and agreed to stop selling all shark fin and shark products in its 42 outlets across the country. The supermarket is a subsidiary of Dairy Farm, a leading pan-Asian food retailer that operates more than 5,300 outlets and employs some 80,000 people in the Asia-Pacific region. It is the first supermarket in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
to implement a “no shark fins policy”.
United States
Bill ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
banned finning in the United States and with U.S.-registered vessels, but not foreign-registered vessels. Shark fins cannot be imported into the U.S. without the associated carcass. In 1991, the percentage of sharks killed by U.S. longline fisheries in the Pacific Ocean for finning was approximately 3%. By 1998, that percentage had grown to 60%. Between 1991 and 1998, the number of sharks retained by the Hawaii-based swordfish and tuna longline fishery had increased from 2,289 to 60,857 annually, and by 1998, an estimated 98% of these sharks were killed for their fins.
In 2010, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
became the first state to ban the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins. The law became effective on July 1, 2011. Similar laws have been enacted in the states of Washington, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and in Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
.
In January 2011, President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
signed the Shark Conservation Act
Shark Conservation Act
The Shark Conservation Act of 2010 is a bill passed by the 111th United States Congress that would amend the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to improve the conservation of sharks...
into law to close the loopholes of the 2000 Shark Finning Prohibition Act. Specifically, the new law prohibits any boat to carry shark fins without the corresponding number and weight of carcasses, and all sharks must be brought to port with their fins attached.
Statistics
After reaching about 0.9 million tonnes in 2003, catches of the “sharks, rays and chimaeras” group declined to 0.75 million tonnes in 2006, a drop of 15 percent., numbering some 100 million fish.| Country | Capture |
|---|---|
 Indonesia |
112,000 |
 Spain |
77,300 |
 India |
72,100 |
 Pakistan |
51,200 |
 Republic of China |
45,900 |
 Mexico |
35,300 |
 Japan |
33,100 |
 United States |
30,900 |
 Sri Lanka |
28,000 |
 Argentina |
25,700 |
 Malaysia |
24,500 |
 Early Modern France |
22,800 |
 Brazil |
18,500 |
 New Zealand |
17,700 |
 United Kingdom |
17,400 |
 Thailand |
16,200 |
 Peru |
15,400 |
 South Korea |
15,400 |
 Maldives |
13,500 |
 Canada |
13,500 |
 Nigeria |
13,200 |
 Senegal |
10,800 |
 Portugal |
9,100 |
 Australia |
8,100 |
| Total | 828,400 |
External links
- Global Shark Campaign by the Pew Environment Group.
- Shark DNA Helps Catch Poachers at the Smithsonian Ocean Portal
- Decline of Big Sharks Lets Small Predators Decimate Shellfish, Washington Post. March 2007
- Triple Threat: World Fin Trade May Harvest up to 73 Million Sharks per Year, research published in Ecology Letters, September 2006
- Shark Finning Fact sheet
- In Search of Credibility & Cooperation in Shark Conservation
- Decimating Shark Population for Some Soup
- Fisherman holds shark fin by The Smithsonian Institution: Ocean Portal
- How Sharks Have Paid the Price for Demand for Shark Fin Soup by The Voice of America's Special English Branch.
- Shark Truth - a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to promoting awareness, education and action about shark fin soup in the Chinese community