SHARK TALES

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Study Reveals More Sharks than Estimated Killed for Fin Soup

 

October 26, 2006 — By Reuters

LONDON -- Up to four times more sharks than previously thought are being

slaughtered to fill the increasing demand for shark fin soup, scientists said on

Wednesday.

 

They estimate that each year between 26 million and 73 million sharks, weighing

up to 2.29 million tonnes, are killed for their fins which are used in the

delicacy that costs $100 a bowl in Chinese restaurants.

 

Figures reported to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation put the

number at 0.4 to 0.6 million tonnes a year.

 

" Our findings confirm that a far larger number of sharks are being caught every

year than current databases indicate. The fin trade is continuing to expand and

thus the pressure on shark populations is constantly increasing, " said Dr

Shelley Clarke of Imperial College London.

 

Species most at risk are the blue shark, hammerheads and silky sharks, according

to the researchers.

 

They said official estimates of the number of sharks killed each year may not

reflect the true figure because many fish are caught by unregulated fisheries

which do not report the catch.

 

The findings reported by the scientists in the journal Ecology Letters are based

on an investigation of shark fins sold at auction in Hong Kong, which is the

world's largest fin market.

 

The World Conservation Union says 65 out of 373 known shark species are

threatened, largely because of the trade in shark fins. Some experts think the

number is higher.

 

Several countries have banned the slaughter of sharks for their fins following

public outcries.

 

Sharks are among the ocean's most threatened animals mainly because of

overfishing. They grow slowly, mature late and produce few young which makes

them particularly vulnerable, according to the Shark Alliance, a coalition of

non-governmental organisations dedicated to shark conservation.

 

Source: Reuters

 

 

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances,

there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in

such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest

we become unwitting victims of the darkness.

William O. Douglas