Stop shark finning
Shark-finning refers to the removal of the fins from a living shark. The often still-living sharks are thrown back into the sea to make room for more of the valuable fins. It can take days for the shark to die what must be an agonizing death. Some sharks starve to death, others are slowly eaten by other fish, and some drown, because sharks need to keep moving to force water through their gills for oxygen.
Shark fins are used as the principal ingredient of shark fin soup, an Asian “delicacy”. Demand for shark fin soup has rocketed in recent years due to the increased prosperity of China and other countries in the Far East. Shark fin soup, which can easily cost $100 a bowl, is often served at wedding celebrations so that the hosts can impress their guests with their affluence. Shark fin itself is tasteless. It just provides a gelatinous bulk for the soup which is flavored with chicken or other stock.
Shark-finning is widespread, and largely unmanaged and unmonitored. This cruel and unsustainable practice has increased over the past decade largely due to the demand for Chinese shark fin soup and traditional cures, improved fishing technology, and improved market economics. Shark specialists estimate that anywhere between 38 million-100 million sharks are killed for their fins, annually.
3 sharks are being killed every second so people can use their fins to make shark fin soup. Fishermen report that the sharks they are fishing are getting smaller because they are not being given time to mature. Numbers of some shark species have dropped as much as 80% over the last 50 years. Populations of other shark species have fallen by over 90%. Since 1972 the number of black-tip sharks has fallen by 93%, tiger sharks by 97% and bull sharks, dusky sharks and smooth hammerheads by 99%.
The consequences of the decline in shark populations on ocean life are immense. The large shark species are “apex” predators, they are ecological stabilizers, and once they are gone, all hell will break loose. For example along the US East Coast where large sharks such as black-tip and tiger sharks have
been virtually eliminated, there have been declines in shellfish numbers and a reduction in water quality (shellfish filter sea water). Populations of small sharks, rays and skates have increased rapidly, consuming shellfish at an unsustainable rate. If you remove apex predators from an ecosystem the result is the same as removing the foundations from a building – total collapse.
Shark fins are a billion dollar industry. At least 8,000 tonnes of shark fins are shipped to restaurants around the world. Because there is such a high demand for shark fins, traders can make a lot of money from shark fin.
One company that trades fins in Peru is “R.Muelle S.A.” in Callao. This company trades fins from Mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), Blue shark (Prionace glauca), Thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus) and Hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena).
What you can do:
Email, fax or phone R.Muelle S.A. and tell the companies’ representative what you think about their way of profiting from the brutal slaughter of sharks and nature destruction:
Phones: 0051-1-429 6060 / 429 5487
Fax: 0051-1-465 5529
Email: rmuelle@rmuelle.com
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Page author: Stefan Austermühle
Reviewed by: Sean Minns
Last updated: 2010.06.20.
Sign our Mundo Azul online petitions:
Stop exporting shark fins from Peru
Ask the Peruvian company R.Muelle SA in Callao, Peru to stop exporting shark fins.
Stop shark-finning in Peru and elsewhere
Ask the Peruvian Vice-Minister of Fisheries to ban shark-finning in Peruvian waters and work for a ban of shark-finning in international waters
Shark fishing in Peru is unmanaged and unsustainable. Shark populations are declining. Ask the Vice-Minister of Fisheries to ban shark fishing till a truly sustainable management scheme has been set up.
Read more about shark conservation:
Sign one or all of the following online petitions:
This Petition is targeted to governments to ban LIVE SHARK FINNING world-wide.
This petition is to help put an end to shark finning and the market that supports it. It is targeted to Li Baodong, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations
This petition urges the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the prohibition of shark finning, and to call upon the Federal Government to support the prohibition of this cruel act; to prohibit the sale and marketing of shark fins as used in shark fin soup; and to call on Ontarians to consider stopping this horrible and wasteful practice of eating and consuming shark fins, as a way to protect this endangered species from unnecessary and cruel acts, especially in light of the unconscionable, wasteful and inhumane methods used to obtain shark fins for the purpose of making shark fin soup.
Call for a global ban on shark finning
This petition is targeted to Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General. Incredibly, as many as 100 million sharks are killed each year – that is a jaw-dropping 270,000 sharks fished each and every day. This is pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Urgent action is needed if this wonderfully diverse yet increasingly threatened group of species is to survive.
Read more about shark conservation:
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