ViceZilla’s Views

Taiwan — Legislators urged the Department of Health (DOH) to require that restaurants serving dishes with shark fins provide warnings cautioning pregnant women not to eat the prized ingredient, which can contain dangerous levels of mercury.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin said at a news conference attended by lawmakers from across the political spectrum that shark finning is not only cruel, but also a main cause of the rapid decline of global shark populations.

As a result, Tien said, random surveys conducted by local environmental groups show that some shark fins sold on the market contain mercury, which could pose a health hazard to consumers.

She therefore called on local residents not to order shark fin dishes when hosting banquets to avoid endangering their own health and the health of their guests and prevent ecological destruction.

How about just a law that states eating Shark Fins is illegal? Take away the demand, and there will be no reason to continue to slaughter the animal only for it’s fins.

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Technorati Tags: shark fin, shark fin soup, shark slaughter, taiwan, mercury, warning

Tags: Stop the Finning! by vicezilla
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A recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has prompted Congress to introduce the “Shark Conservation Act of 2008.” This legislation would close loopholes exposed in the court decision by improving existing laws, originally intended to prevent shark finning.

The Act would require sharks to be landed with their fins, improving current laws that only require fins and carcasses to be landed in a specific ratio.

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Technorati Tags: Shark Finning, Shark Conservation Act,

Tags: Stop the Finning! by vicezilla
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Nine new species of sharks are to be added to the official list of animals at risk of extinction. Dr Baum, a marine ecologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego claim, “If we carry on without doing anything about it we are looking at a high risk that some of these could be extinct within our lifetime.”

Millions of sharks are taken by recreational fisherman and as bycatch by fleets fishing for tuna, but the real culprit for the decimation of sharks in our Ocean’s is the demand for shark fins. 100 million sharks a year are removed from the Oceans just for their fins to feed the demand for Shark Fin Soup. Finning has become a profitable venture for fisherman because as the demand for shark fins increases, so does the price.

Online marketer Alibaba.com makes the situation worse by trading shark fins globally, over the internet. By Alibaba’s complicity in marketing fins online, it has opened up avenues of trade for the illegal fisherman and marketers of fins to sell their product to a global marketplace. The demand has risen for shark fins, and so has the price. The wealthy and affluent in China view Shark Fin Soup as a status symbol, and don’t think twice about forking over $100 for a bowl of the stuff.

Not only are the sharks populations being decimated, but the resulting effects on the Oceans’ ecosystems are being thrown out of balance by the removal of it’s apex predators. The domino effect it is causing is of major concern as well.

If nothing is done to put an end to the slaughter of the Ocean’s sharks, the Oceans and it’s inhabitants will be changed forever.

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Tags: Stop the Finning! by vicezilla
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Here we go again, another call out of the Asian mentality regarding shark finning!

This time I’ve got a serious problem with an organization claiming to be a conservation organization supposedly involved in protecting Hong Kong’s marine environment. In one breath the WWF is urging companies to drop shark fin from their banquet menus. A poll by WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) showed at least 26 organizations, including banks, universities and non-governmental agencies, said they would not buy shark’s fin or treat clients to the dish. This is all a good thing.

Then in the next breath, WWF senior marine conservation officer Clarus Chu said “We are not totally opposed to the consumption of shark fins. But unless we can have a sustainable source, we had better temporarily stop consuming it.”

 Temporarily? What part of “demand for shark fin soup is fueling an illegal shark finning trade”, doesn’t he understand?

Not eating shark fin soup “temporarily” is as effective as thinking that not buying gas on a certain day to prove your point to the oil companies will make a difference. Well its not, because the oil companies as well as the finners know that you will be buying their product the next day. The only way to make a difference is stop buying their product, period. If there is no demand, there will be no need for a supply.

According to the Government, Hong Kong imports more than 40,000 tons of dried shark fins annually. Considering a shark’s fins accounts for roughly 2 to 5 % of it’s total weight, 40,000 tons represents a whole lot of needlessly slaughtered sharks!

So a word to senior marine conservation officer Chu, temporary isn’t good enough!

Feel free to contact Mr. Chu and let him know what you think of his so-called conservation plan.

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Tags: Stop the Finning! by vicezilla
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Taiwan fishing boat captain Tsai Wuen Teng will spend 32 days in jail for attempt to bribe officials over an illegal shark finning case in Palau. The remainder of his two year sentence is suspended. Tsai must also pay a civil penalty of $160,000; $20,000 in cost recovery to Palau’s Marine Enforcement Bureau; forfeit $5,643 in fish sales monies and forfeit his fishing equipment of hooks, lines and leaders after being caught with 650 shark fins, 94 shark bodies and ten shark heads on August 15.

He has also been fined $1000 and will have to forfeit the $2,392 he offered in an attempted bribe of Marine Law Enforcement Officer Earl Benhart. $185,000 in fines and penalties, plus the loss of his fishing equipment and 32 days in jail just to provide illegal fins for soup.

I hope Mr. Teng’s conviction will serve as a warning to other illegal finners that their time is coming. As Mr. Teng sits in a squalid jail cell for 32 days in shame, lets hope he uses his time to reflect on his actions and realizes that when he gets out there are much more fulfilling ways to earn a living.

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Finning Doesn't Pay!

Tags: Stop the Finning! by vicezilla
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