Since posting about Yao Ming’s Anti-Shark Finning billboards in China last week this blog has been used as a source on it by numerous sites, including treehugger.com.

While perusing the numerous posts that sprouted from our post I saw a well made video Yao Ming stars in to deter people from consuming shark fin soup.  It is in English, but I am sure (and hope) there is a Chinese version as well that is broadcast in China.  I personally think it is well made but could use more of a shock factor.

Take a look. If shark fin soup was an integral part of your ‘food culture’ would this deter you from eating it?

Anti-shark fin soup billboards in China are helping educate the public about the harm shark fin soup is causing our oceans.  Featuring Yao Ming, the ads can be bought by anyone for $100 and will appear for 1 year at a bus stop and other high traffic areas.  The billboards have been around since last year, but their effectiveness are finally beginning to take shape and statistics show that 19% of the people in Beijing surveyed remembered seeing the billboards and 82% of those that say it said they would stop or reduce their consumption of shark fin soup.

Growing up in Asia I understand the importance of educating the Chinese public about the dangers of shark finning, rather than simply lashing out at them as cruel or ruthless for a practice that is obviously wasteful and ruthless.  Many Chinese don’t know the dangers that shark finning poses.  Shark fin soup is embedded in their culture and it is only natural for them to want and enjoy shark fin soup.  It is so important for leaders and celebrities in China to stand up against shark fin soup and educate their people about the damage the shark fin industry is causing to our oceans.

Way to go Yao Ming!!

Interested in helping out? Visit here to buy an anti-shark fin billboard in China.

Many of us are familiar with the Whale Shark – the media darling of peaceful, large sharks. However, the Whale Shark doesn’t really look like a shark, it looks more like its name infers, a whale. Well today I wanted to feature a more ’shark-looking’, yet still peaceful, shark – the Basking Shark.

I am fortunate enough to have seen Basking Sharks in the wild off of Cape Cod, MA.  Due to their surface-inclined feeding behavior, their large dorsal fin often protrude from the surface of the water in a stereotypical fashion.   When I first saw this I was astounded by the sheer size of the fin, and not knowing it was a basking shark, the sight of the fin set shivers and excitement shooting through my body.  I soon found out it was a Basking Shark, a peaceful, tooth-less species of shark that eats via filter feeding.

Unfortunately, this graceful species of shark cannot escape man’s greedy desire for her, and they are regularly sacrificed for their enormous, and valuable, fins.  As a result, the Basking Shark is now listed as a species that is “globally vulnerable to extinction”.

I hope I don’t have to look back on my encounter with this species of sharks as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

]]> http://stopsharkfinning.sandshack.org/shark-highlight-the-peaceful-basking-shark/feed/ 1 http://stopsharkfinning.sandshack.org/fake-shark-fin-soup-is-here/ http://stopsharkfinning.sandshack.org/fake-shark-fin-soup-is-here/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:12:55 +0000 Mike http://stopsharkfinning.sandshack.org/?p=105

A few posts ago I asked the question of “Why Shark’s Fin?”  When it comes to shark fin soup, the consumer is looking for a few main things:

1. Status – the soup is expensive and usually only eaten by those who are wealthy or on special occasions
2. Look – the broth should be a translucent yellow or brown and the fin should appear white in shredded “noodles”
3. Smell – since the shark fin has no taste, the soup smells only of the broth that the fin is in
4. Taste – the fin has no taste but does absorb the flavor of the broth; usually of chicken, pork, or mushroom
5. Texture – the cartalige of the fin breaks into noodle like strands which have a texture that is specific to shark fin

So what if you could recreate these five characteristics of shark fin soup without having to slaughter another shark – EVER.  Well it CAN be done and it IS being done.

Check out the pictures below and see if you can figure out which one is real and which one is “imitation shark fin soup”.  I’ll bet you can’t tell.

As for the smell, taste and texture, you would have no idea if it was your first time trying it.  Even people who have had it before, like CNN reporter Kristie Lu Stout, have a hard time telling the difference!

So really it comes down to the status.  People just aren’t satisfied with something that looks, tastes, and feels exactly the same as the real thing.  For them, it has to involve the death of a beautiful shark.

So I just finished watching Rob Stewart’s movie Sharkwater.  The film is really powerful and shows the first hand accounts of Rob’s stint on the Sea Shepherd and his travels to the Galapagos and Costa Rico.  Rob is one man who truly LOVES sharks and it really come out in the four years that he spent making this movie.

The film is a cross between a documentary about shark finning and a real life action film that involves Rob Stewart and Captain Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd, being chased by boat with machine guns and being held for trial for murder in Costa Rico.

I personally watched the movie with my roommate and within a few minutes he was hooked and by the end he was even more curious about the issues of shark finning.  The film is now on DVD and I want to encourage everyone to pick up a copy or rent it and then encourage your friends to come over and watch the movie with you!

Earlier this week Maryline wrote a post on shark cartilage as a supplement in the treatment of cancer.  Well, while browsing the internet today I cam across a great video that explores this myth in a little more detail.  The video comes from Shark Task Force, and if you haven’t checked out their website, check it out now!

Living in Philadelphia I have enjoyed the numerous food choices, especially from the different cultures that the city has to offer.  One of my favorites has always been the authentic Chinese cuisine of Chinatown.  Located a few blocks east of Center City, Chinatown is full of grocery stores, hotels, saloons, shopping, and restaurants all of which stay true to their culture.  I think this rich culture within the city is a major asset to Philadelphia, but when a savory delicacy becomes a gourmet cruelty then it is time to rethink what our culture, as Americans and Philadelphians, chooses to support.

There are at least a half dozen known restaurants in Chinatown that serve Shark Fin Soup.  I will point out that this is in no way illegal, but just because something is legal does not always mean it is right.  Recently, Joseph Poon has received much attention for his Wok’ and Walk Tours of Philadelphia Chinatown.  Poon is a Chinese chef and that has appeared on shows such as The Tonight Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Food Network, receiving praise for his cooking and his book “Life is Short, Cooking is Fun”.

Chef Poon’s tour takes people through Chinatown and explains the different ingredients and cooking styles of the different restaurants and foods.  One of the focuses are the “medicinal properties” of shark fin, found in both the Shark Fin Soup and shark fin cartilage pills of Chinatown.  These ideas may seem fascinating and they are most definitely an accurate portrayal of Chinese culture, but it is simply not true.  It has been scientifically tested and proven that shark fin has no medical purposes and in fact it can even be harmful.  A tour with Chef Poon in Philadelphia’s Chinatown will not touch on this though, nor will they touch on the cruel finning practices that are used in order to obtain these “medicinal” shark fins.

Having a ban on shark finning in U.S. waters is a major hurdle that we have already crossed in efforts to save the sharks.  Maybe it is time to take it one step further – Is it appropriate to ban shark fin soup, or the sale of shark fin in the U.S. without proper documentation of how it is obtained?  Or would this be an unjustified suppression of Chinese culture in Philadelphia and the U.S.?

Below is a special guest post by an intern at Sand Shack.  In this article, AJ Guzman explores the issues surrounding shark finning.

73 million+ sharks are killed annually.

Courtesy of Conveyor belt sushi's

That’s the equivalent to over 220 million bowls of shark fin soup being served in restaurants all over the world. Granted, this may seem insignificant to many Americans because not many of us have ever had shark, let alone shark fin soup. But the reality is the senseless slaughter of millions of sharks is going on all over the world every day. The practice of shark finning has increased ten fold over the past 3 decades due to the increase in demand for shark fin soup.

The practice of shark finning involves taking living sharks and butchering them for their fins and then discarding the still living sharks. Since sharks rely on their fins to move they wind up sinking to the bottom of the sea where they die a slow and painful death.

Is China’s thriving economy responsible for the shark fin trade?

Courtesy of Bert van Dijk

Shark fin soup has been a popular delicacy in China since the Ming Dynasty around 1368. Being a delicacy it was typically reserved for the elite.  If you were not elite, you may still have consumed it for a special occasion such as a wedding.  However, now that China’s economy is growing exponentially, consumption has risen along with the rise of the middle class. Shark fin’s high price has made it a status symbol for many people to eat.  These same high prices have made it particularly lucrative for entrepreneurial fishermen in Spain, Norway, France, Britain, Portugal and Italy to seek out sharks as their main catch. Fishermen from Spain alone contribute somewhere between 2000 and 5000 metric tons of shark fin a year, and most of these fins, approximately 50-80% of the world’s shark fins, will come through Hong Kong.

Sustainability – Or Lack There Of

Due to shark finning, there has been a drastic decrease in the population of many species of sharks.  Some species have been depleted by over 90% over the past 30 years. The white tip shark has had its population depleted by a staggering 99%.  Most species have seen approximately a 70% population decline.

One of the most common ways to catch sharks is through a highly destructive practice called Long Lining.  Long Lining involves setting out a line with up to 1500 hooks on it to catch as many sharks as possible (and any other marine animal as by-catch, including sea turtles). This is done over and over until the fishermen have reached their quota for fins. Some experts believe that because of long lining most species of sharks will be lost within the next decade. Since most species of sharks take 20 years to reach sexual maturity harvesting massive quantities depletes populations faster than they can reproduce.

What’s being done?

Right now there are few countries and laws that have actually banned shark fishing, and those that have restrictions on shark fishing and shark finning have not successfully enforced their rules. Organizations such as IUCN, a shark specialist group, have proposed a fin to body weight ratio for fishers. Some countries have finning legislation that stipulates fins must arrive in a 5% weight ratio of the carcasses on board, which is by no means a solution, as this does not stop the practice of shark finning, and instead, provides a loophole for savvy fishermen to continue this practice.

Although shark fining violates the UN food and agriculture organizations code of conduct it is hard to police because this process is done at sea in international waters. So the best approach to help combat shark finning is to educate the consumer.

The consumer must understand that sharks are vital to the health of our oceans, and without them, entire marine ecosystems may break down.  And if this is not compelling enough of a reason to be against shark finning, the high levels of mercury in shark fins may cause sterility in men and birth defects in pregnant females.

Now you know.

And as one anti-shark finning campaign goes,

“When the buying stops, the killing can too”.

Hold on to your lunch, people, cause this story is not a pretty one. It appears that shark cartilage is now the new “fix-it” when it comes to health. People really believe that the cartilage of sharks can cure anything from arthritis to cancer. Yes, cancer. Studies have shown that shark cartilage does not produce any results on a variety of cancers. So how come, according to an article on Scubadviser, they are being sold?? 

Specifically in a popular UK-owned drugstore in Phuket, Thailand named Boots. If you guys have ever heard of Phuket, you might know that it has a large diving community. So are we really surprised that there was such a huge reaction when these supplements were seen sitting snugly on the shelves in this well-known store? Because sharks are seen as endangered, and so many people have been offended by this, the chain is promising its customers to stop stocking the sixty capsule, 500 mg bottle in their stores.

Photo Courtesy of Straightedge217

The growing popularity of shark cartilage for medicinal purposes has widely been attributed to a 1992 book by Dr. William Lane entitled Sharks Don’t Get Cancer. After hearing about the book, it seems to be nothing more than Dr. Lane’s attempt at selling his shark cartilage. He probably had no idea how effective it was because if he had, he might have known that sharks do, in fact, get cancer, even though it is more rare for them than humans. He might have also been aware that there is no evidence that this works, that his efforts are in vain, and that selling a defective product to people is just plain wrong. Just saying. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Halloween!

Courtesy of dcis steve

As I watched a few video’s over at www.stopsharkfinning.net yesterday, I started thinking.  Why sharks?  Who chose the shark’s fin as the essential ingredient of a dish which translates literally to “fish wing soup” in Chinese.  It just doesn’t make any sense at all.  The shark’s fins do not even have a taste to them, only the taste that is absorbed in the “noodles”(the shark’s fin’s cartilage).  They also provide no nutritional benefits, unless of course you don’t have enough Mercury in your diet.

The part that confuses me even further is the fact that the type of shark does not matter.  The fin can be from one of dozens of different size and species of sharks but somehow their fins are the same? No, I don’t think so.  Why don’t we fin dolphins?  They meet the criteria right?  Defenseless and beautiful sea creatures which have fins.  But wait, there is a difference.  We are not afraid of dolphins.  Instead, dolphins are thought of as our friends thanks to shows like Flipper.

Courtesy of Willy Volk

I think that as humans, we have developed a fear of sharks, whether it be Jaws, Shark Week, or maybe just the incredible jaw and teeth of a white shark, we have become afraid of sharks and told to fear them.  Ultimately, our fear has no real basis, but we use this fear to justify the massive and brutal slaughter of amazing creatures!  In reality we have no reason to fear sharks any more than we do dolphins.  Even if you can justify a reason to be afraid, it is not a good enough reason to cut their fins off while they are alive.

Hopefully I have got you thinking and if I did then let me know whats going on up there!