Archive for the ‘Wildlife’ Category

Shark Fin Soup a cruel Chinese superstition

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

Chinese Shark Fin Soup is the barbaric dish of backward Chinese following a primitive custom from the ancient Ming Dynasty.

Many Chinese eat Shark Fin Soup at weddings and banquets out of superstition.

Sharks are caught by Chinese fishermen their fins hacked off while alive and the sharks thrown back into sea to die of a torturous death.

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Mar 2013: CITES Conference in Bangkok to decide on global Shark Finning Bans

<<World governments have agreed to restrict international trade in four shark species in a bid to save them from being wiped out due to rampant Chinese and Japanese demand for their fins.

The 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted at a meeting in Bangkok to control exports of the oceanic whitetip and three types of hammerhead shark, but stopped short of a full trade ban. The move would require countries to regulate trade by issuing export permits to ensure their sustainability in the wild, otherwise they could face sanctions from CITES.

Asian nations led by Japan and China – where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy – tried in vain to block the proposals, which were pushed by countries including Brazil, Colombia and the United States.

The decision to add the species to CITES Appendix 2, which restricts cross-border trade, must still be formally approved by the conference’s plenary session later this week. Members would then have 18 months to introduce the trade controls.

The four species would join the great white shark, the whale shark and the basking shark, which already enjoy international trade controls. The Bangkok meeting was also set to vote on a similar proposal for the porbeagle shark and the manta ray.

Humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, mostly for their fins, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and conservationists are warning that dozens of species are under threat. About 90 per cent of the world’s sharks have disappeared over the past 100 years, mostly because of overfishing in countries such as Indonesia, the FAO says.>>

[Source: ‘Protections aim to moderate trade in shark fins’, 20130311, AFP, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-11/protections-aim-to-moderate-trade-in-shark-fin/4566208]

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[Source: ^http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/americans-shark-finning-09082012/]

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<<Government representatives to CITES, have agreed to put the porbeagle, oceanic whitetip, three kinds of hammerhead shark and two kinds of manta ray on its Appendix II list, which places restrictions on fishing but still allows limited trade.

Joyce says “conservation groups have been trying for years to curtail the widespread killing of sharks for their meat and for shark fin soup.”

According to The Independent newspaper, scientists estimate that almost 100 million sharks are caught each year, and because they are slow-growing and slow to reproduce, they are especially vulnerable to overfishing.

“Although some regions, including the European Union, have banned shark finning, commercial fishing for fins, meat, liver oil, cartilage and other body parts is largely unregulated in much of the world, conservationists warn. Some countries have been reluctant to include marine species, which can generate large revenues, in the treaty that regulates or bans international trade in wildlife.

The shark fin business is worth an estimated $475 million a year.”>>

[Source: ‘International Convention Moves To Limit Shark ‘Finning’ Trade’, 20130311, by Scott Neuman, NPR, ^http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/11/174018120/international-convention-moves-to-limit-shark-finning-trade]

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