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Ben Nelms / Reuters
Jon Planes holds a large Soupfin shark (Galeorhinus galeus) aboard the Ocean Sunset in the Pacific Ocean off of Ucluelet, British Columbia, June 24, 2012.
Reuters reports — The Ocean Sunset is a commercial fishing boat that hunts sharks as well as other fish for their meat and fins. After the fishermen catch them, dogfish sharks are sent to a processing plant to be cut and distributed. The fins are removed and the body is skinned. The bellies are exported to Germany where they are smoked and sold as beer-garden pub food. The fins are removed and sent to Asia where they are used in shark fin soup - a delicacy in Chinese culture. Animal rights advocates criticize the shark fin harvest but others say that eating shark fins is an old cultural tradition.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers the Soupfin shark vulnerable to extinction. The animal was the mainstay of the shark fishery “boom” between 1936 and 1944, when over 24 million pounds were landed, according to the IUCN.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Images made available to NBC News on Dec. 6
Ben Nelms / Reuters
Newly caught dogfish sharks are pulled aboard the Ocean Sunset commercial fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean off of Ucluelet, British Columbia, June 25.
Ben Nelms / Reuters
A family eats shark fin soup at Vancouver's Grand Honor Chinese restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 1.
Ben Nelms / Reuters
A shark fin from a Chinese Herbal store is photographed in a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 6.
Leave a Comment:
wow
Beautifully produced article, this, and what is often mentioned regarding animal harvesting is cruelty, which more evolved people, to their credit, make attempts to stop. But when it comes to over-harvesting, greed, or customs which should have little importance in the common era, two things are rarely mentioned. The secular need to be reminded that this is the way we evolved and much is wired in. For believers, this is the planet your god created and you'd best either give that idea up or stop whining.
This makes me so damned angry.
made me hungry.
I wonder if we made chinese ears a delicacy if this would stop? Between this and the ivory and rhino horns they are out of control.
People don't realize the importance of sharks in the ecosystem of the ocean.It's easy to paint the shark as disposable and of little importance. So why even bother saving them?
There are two main reasons. First, the fact they help keep other species they prey on healthy by removing the weaker, injured and sick ones.So stronger prey reproduce and diseases don't get passed around as those fish fall to these predators more easily.
Secondly, they play a vital role as one of the top predators in balancing the cycle of life in the oceans. Preventing other species from becoming to large and decimating the food sources those species prey upon, and so forth. Maintaining a delicate balance.
It is such a shame Canada is participating in the slaughter of sharks. With millions killed every year, this is not something that can continue without ramifications to the oceans. As noted by biologists, there have been plummeting counts in some species of shark populations.All for the superstition of man.
Further proof that the murderous, repressive pieces of garbage known as the chinese, do not care about anything or anyone except themselves.
Jim--totally uncalled for racism and stereotyping. What about the Canadians that are selling them to China?
We need to do the right thing and stop plundering our oceans of wildlife. The shark fin trade is really shameful. But if the demand is not addressed, the product will only become more expensive. China does have responsibility for its horrible environmental regulations, including importing of wildlife products that are pushing elephants and rhinos toward extinction.
Lived there for 5 years and I never saw anything like this offered at a beer garden or anywhere else.
Again, we have to thank china for the soon to be extinction of the animals in Africa, and now of the sea with sharks, dolphins. kill all is very alive in the "cures" these people prefer to use that have no medicinal value at all. this should be waht we talk to China abut, not the trade we do with them: pull out the jobs and if this stops, go back to trade negotiations.
If Canada is doing this, I am not proud to be a Canadian right now!!!!
Kathy Dowsett
www.kirkscubagear.com
Kathy Dowsett, you arse, you are not proud to be a Canadian but you are proud to be a freaking idiot!!
Shark finning is the problem, not necessarily shark fins themselves. The sharks from this fishery are not over exploited, and the entire fish is used, not just the fin. Pacific spiny Dogfish receive a 'good alternative' rating from the Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood guide.
The fish in the photo is incorrectly labeled 'Soupfin shark', it's actually a spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias).
Not sure why there are such strong reactions here. While I am not a fan of shark meat (or fins) - I do enjoy chicken, steak, pork, and fish. Although I'm sure I wouldn't find it appetizing to see those animals being processed - I can't take issue with people enjoying different seafood than I do. People everywhere need to earn a living just as they need to have a place to live and to eat. Unless you are a vegetarian and don't use leather or any products of animal origins I think you have overreacted out of sympathy for the sharks in the pictures.
Fish is cold blood and in the lower of food chain. Human consume fish for their own survival ever since. I believe a very large percentage of people on this earth are not absolute vegetarians.
This over reaction is really funny. Don't forget sharks may attack people in the ocean.
In 1968, I was SCUBA diving off Ensenada, and was approached by a local boat skipper to help him with a thru-hull-fitting that had had jammed. Easy enough quick job.
I asked the skipper what he did and he told me he fished for sharks for the fins, which were locally processed (dried), canned and sold to China. He introduced me to his Chinese buyer, who lived in Tijuana.
The buyer openly told me that the shark fin soup sold in the US and Canada most likely came from Mexican waters. In fact, many Asian restaurant owners in San Diego and Los Angeles came down on the weekends to buy his dried product in large paper bags at a reduced price.
Perfectly legal with Border control at that time, but the fins smelled like dead pelicans, so thanks but no thanks.
Why not just cut the fins off and put the shark back in the water to feed other sharks?
That is exactly what has been doing for a long time.
the Chinese are scum and a drain on the rest of the world!! They eat everything their yellow paws can get a hold of!! They are a 3rd world nation hiding behind a facade of class, they have none!!
China's rising demand on human infant genitalia is putting pressure on Canada to keep up the supply. The soup made from these tiny body parts sells for $4 per bowl in many Chinese traditional shops. Canada has quadrupled its supply capability over the last 12 months after a Toronto based training group, Somebody's Got to Do It, LLC., began a re-education program in 2011 redirecting former baby seal pup head smashers into this new and lucrative job. Plans announced a week ago by the Canadian Products Export Ministry stated that they have no doubt that Canada can meet the demand if pesky human rights fanatics keep out of their business.
Most to none of you do not know one freaking thing about what you are commenting on. First of all, the dog-fish is primarily hunted for it's meat and most Chinese will not purchase the fins, they are NOT desirable as with a number of shark species.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with what the fishermen in Canada are doing, plus almost all of the dog-fish's body is used/consumed anyway... Canadians are NOT what you pricks seem to think and neither is the article and maybe the idiot writer is attempting to stir controversy.
What you idiots should do is take a look at what goes on elsewhere. Eg. Off the shores of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia & Mexico. JAPANESE fishing fleets are known to cut fins off of sharks tangled in their nets only to throw the carcases back into the ocean..Think about the damage which hundreds or thousands of these rotting carcases will cause to reefs, try doing something about that instead. Peruvians and most South Americans do not eat shark's meat, some prefer to eat SEA PIG.. or DOLPHIN (the mammal).
To you racist ignoramuses, back off the Chinese and you fools looking for something to yell about, back off of Canada and it's fishermen and get a freaking life. If Chinese and other cultures did not consume certain delicacies which you McNugget chomping, draft beer chugging racist f@ckheads won't eat, then there'd be a lot more to be worried about. Just sayin'......