Lucia Malla, a biologist and a dear friend of mine, wrote an alert in her post Sharkwater na China about the “lie” that consumers of shark fins in China–the world’s largest shark fin consumer market–are being told. Approximately 80 percent of the shark fins collected in the world end up at Hong Kong port.
According to what Lucia heard from a dive master, Chinese divers claim that “there is no problem in taking out a shark’s fin because it grows back”. Lucia says that “this is not true because once a shark loses its fin it can no longer swim and dies from starvation–a consequence of its inability to hunt–and from drowning, since most sharks need to swim in order to “vent” their gill and breath”.
It is high time people rethink their habit of eating shark fin soup which, according to Lucia, is eradicating an entire group of animals from the planet. This is a truly barbaric practice, carried out on behalf of people who think that they are not causing any harm to the environment.
Read Lucia Malla’s full post on her Uma malla pelo mundo blog.
Photo by André Seale - Barbatanas de tubarão secando em embarcação brasileira.