(TH) Shark fin

[Guest guest]

The Nation 9 March 2001

 

BY KAMOL SUKIN

 

SHARKS around the world, including those in Thai waters, are threatened with

unsustainable exploitation due to increasing demand for sharkfin soup and

indiscriminate fishing, a wildlife conservation group warned yesterday.

 

Tens of millions of sharks are killed every year, with at least 8,000 tonnes

of sharkfins shipped to restaurants around the world, WildAid said.

 

WildAid spent two years surveying 12 countries, including the main consuming

markets and major shark-fishing nations, to check the latest status of the

shark.

 

" Fishermen in all countries confirmed that the shark is hardly found anymore

and its size when caught is getting smaller, " WildAid director Peter Knights

said.

 

" In Costa Rica, the shark population has declined 80 per cent in the past 10

years, while the rate in North America is as high as 90 per cent in the past

15 years, " WildAid co-director Steven Galster added.

 

Growing demand for sharkfins, coupled with the increasing prosperity of

Asian countries, had propelled illegal shark-finning in 70 to 80 marine

parks and conservation areas, the report said.

 

WildAid, a non-profit conservation group based in the United States,

launched its report entitled The End of the Line in Bangkok yesterday as

part of its global campaign to save the shark. The report will be further

publicised in Britain, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the United States.

 

The campaign in Thailand was backed by famous local film director MC

Chatreechalerm Yukol, an avid diver with 40 years of experience. " I found

fewer sharks during my diving in the past ten years, " the director said.

 

The WildAid report and investigative footage show that sharks are often

pulled from the water to have their fins sliced off while they are still

alive, and then thrown back into the ocean to slowly die.

 

Large indiscriminate fishing operations have led to a global catch of sharks

that now totals over one million tonnes per year, with virtually no controls

on commercial trade.

 

WildAid and MC Chatreechalerm yesterday called on the Thai and other Asian

governments to help protect the fish by declaring a ban on shark-finning in

their waters.

 

Governments should also conduct field research to update their figures on

shark populations off their shores, they said, as well as the current

situation of shark fisheries in order to pave the way for a proper

master-plan for sustainable shark-fishery management.

 

Four countries have already declared a shark-finning ban in their waters -

Brazil, the US, Costa Rica and Australia.

 

The Thai government should urgently conduct a study as recommended recently

by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which asked member countries to

submit a national plan of action for sharks as a first step towards the

management and conservation of sharks, Knights said.

 

The master-plan would also help promote Thailand's tourism industry, he

added.

 

" Sharks always attract diving tourists especially in Thailand, which is the

home of the whale shark [the biggest shark species], " said Tim Redford, a

WildAid staffer with 10 years experience around Thailand.

 

WildAid was running a worldwide campaign to educate people to stop eating

sharkfin soup, Knights said. 'Consumer power' would be the heart of the

shark-conservation effort in the long run, he said.

 

" People would stop eating sharkfin soup only if they know how the fins were

taken, " he said.

 

" Considering the cooking processes - drying, bleaching and drying again -

all the taste and nutritional value is removed. The remaining taste is the

only ingredient. The flavour of sharkfin soup is purely a fashion - image

and face, " he said.