Last night I was watching the channel 7 news and was so glad to see that the there was a story on Shark Fin soup. It featured Sea Shepherds Bob Barker and their crew, an old Norwegian whaling boat that has been bought by Sea Shepherd to go chase the whaling fleets in the south.
With the Whaling season over and Japanese whaling almost ceasing to exist courtesy of them going bankrupt and floods in Japan, the Bob Barker is now turning their attention to chasing Shark finers who illegally catch sharks and cut off their fins, returning the body to the sea, still alive, where they sink to the bottom and become food for another creature.
Regulations are slowly being put in place that sharks must come to shore with fins in tact and this will decrease the issue somewhat s a fin is easier to carry than an entire shark.
Figures show that somewhere between 30-70 million sharks a year are killed for this soup and the fins are getting up to $1000 per kilo in Sydney’s Chinatown. It seems crazy when the fin only adds texture, no flavor at all. It is a sign of wealth and let’s face it that the Asian cultures have a lot to answer for.
I am not racist but if the Asian cultures continue to rape our land then we have to ask questions of them. They are the reason behind the entire black market that is shark fining. Also Asian countries are the biggest producers of plastic and have a habit of not worrying about where it goes. The amount of packaging that you find on a product produced in China or Taiwan is amazing and somewhat senseless as well.
Is it because they are not educated about the issues or is it a lack of care?
If we keep killing off sharks, then we are going to face an issue that they will become extinct. Sharks have been in our oceans for in excess of 400 million years. They were the top of the food chain in the oceans until we came along. The oceans produce something between 60-80% of our worlds oxygen so if sharks cease to exist and the order of life of the oceans is changed, there is a real chance that we could lose our oxygen supply causing us massive issues.
Unfortunately the boycott of Asian built products is going to be almost impossible to implement as they are so much cheaper so how can we educate them of the issues.
I’m hoping that one day I can sail into China in a major race with our logos and message and do my share. What can you do?
If you want to learn more, visit our lessons page under the education tab and check out the Sharks lesson. It will tell you all about this amazing creature and the threats to it.