Shark Finning
|
Finning is called as the cruel cutting off the fins of the sharks. Often the sharks are still alive at this time. The trunk of the shark (dead or alive) is then thrown as redundant ballast over board. The shark fins constitute only approx. 14% of the total weight of a shark but bring in on the international market substantially more than shark meat. The fins are used exclusively for shark fish fin soup. Finning is cruelly however lucrative; for a kilo of shark fins in Asia an average over 100 US Dollar is paid.
Hong Kong and the mainland China dominate the world-wide shark fin market to 50%. Statistics from Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong point a growth like an explosion of the trade with shark fins. Already 1999 according to official data of the customs authorities of Hong Kong 6954 tons of shark fins were released for the re-export. The number of exported fins might have increased by a multiple since then. They predominantly go to Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and China. Taiwan ranks at place five in the world-wide shark fin trade. It maintains the world-wide largest fishing fleet, which fishes primarily in international waters, far away from the own territorial waters. |
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with age, approx, Asia, author, average, ballast, board, China, china taiwan, Co, customs authorities, cutting, cutting off, Data, Dollar, EST, explosion, fin, fin soup, Finning, fins, fish, fishing, fishing fleet, fleet, growth, Hong Kong, International, international waters, kilo, Korea, land, largest fish, mainland china, Malaysia, market, meat, multiple, number, official, place, point, rat, Red, release, row, run, shark, Shark Finning, shark fins, shark fish, shark meat, Sharks, Singapore, singapore malaysia, soup, Taiwan, territorial, territorial waters, time, trade, trunk, US, use, water, way, weight, Wide, With, world
