Workers in Hong Kong sort shark fins destined for dinner tables.
Credit: NYT

Sharks have been around for millions of years, but like all things at the top of the food chain that we consume, our insatiable appetites will get the best of us in the end if we don’t practice some good conservation techniques.

We already know from the WWF that bluefin tuna will be extinct by 2012. Now we have another big problem: sharks are being killed by the millions — 100 million a year according to the NYT!

Click on those piles of shark fins. Notice the guy in the back hiding his face? Yea, he knows scalping sharks just for their fins is wrong, but one way or another, the industry flourishes.

Their specialty: Double Boiled Superior Shark’s Fin w/Seawhelk 响蜾炖鸡鲍翅

As a matter of fact, American owned Citibank has been using shark fins for marketing; their website is currently advertising a 15% discount at Singapore’s Imperial Court Shark’s Fin Restaurant.

Thanks to public awareness from conservationists though – most notably Hong Kong’s Shark Saver’s campaign – the word is finally getting out. Maybe now, sharks will be left alone and allowed to continue their important job as a top-level predator.

Here’s a short teaser of Shark Saver’s Hong Kong campaign highlighting several people taking a stand, vowing not to eat shark fin soup, and asking others to join in. It’s the first in a series of several films from their Hong Kong filming project launched in conjunction with the “Pledge Not to Eat Shark Fin Soup” campaign and Shark Savers Hong Kong. Take the pledge now!

Nine public hearings will be held on NASA’s proposal to rebuild shark populations from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, in August and September.

The proposal covers 3 shark species:

1. It promotes the live release of shortfin mako sharks by commercial and recreational fishermen to help rebuild the species population in the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. contributes less than 10% to the overall catch in the Atlantic. NOAA’s Fisheries Service has proposed to take action at the international level to develop measures to end overfishing of shortfin mako sharks.
2. A stock assessment determined that reducing the annual mortality of blacknose sharks by approximately 78% across all fisheries could result in rebuilding by 2027.
3. Finally, the proposal would also add smooth dogfish to the species managed by the NOAA’s Fisheries Service – requiring a federal fishing permit and proposes an annual commercial quota of 645.8 metric tons dressed weight.

Here is the info for the Charleston meeting:

For more information on the proposed action, the Federal Register notice, and for the list of public hearings, see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms.

(Credit: NOAA)

(Credit: NOAA)

(Credit: NOAA)