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The practice of shark finning—catch a shark, slice off the fin, dump the still-alive and now-immobilized shark back in the ocean—is common and gruesome. The precious fins are for shark fin soup, of course, the Chinese delicacy that’s become even more prized in recent years as a high-priced status symbol (despite basketball star Yao Ming publicly condemning the soup a couple of years ago). The demand has decimated shark populations (registration required) around the world.
Like many countries, the United States had banned shark finning, but the ban had a loophole. “Right now, fishermen may land piles of fins separate from shark bodies, so long as the fins weigh less than 5% of the total catch,” according to New Scientist. The result, says a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is that the fishermen “keep the fins of every shark they catch and then fill the hold with bodies of smaller sharks. In essence, they are double dipping.” But last week, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources stopped the shell game, mandating that all sharks be landed whole. The new rule takes effect in June and expires in 2012, but there’s legislation before Congress that would make it permanent.
Just watched an interesting Anderson Cooper and Lisa Ling special on CNN. There was an investigation on Shark fishing in international waters and the technique of Long Lining. Hundreds of thousands of sharks are being slaughtered (in many cases de-finned and then left for dead on the bottom of the ocean floor.) for the sake of Sharks Fin Soup. Hundreds of thousands of fins end up in Asia, esp....+READ
Just watched an interesting Anderson Cooper and Lisa Ling special on CNN. There was an investigation on Shark fishing in international waters and the technique of Long Lining. Hundreds of thousands of sharks are being slaughtered (in many cases de-finned and then left for dead on the bottom of the ocean floor.) for the sake of Sharks Fin Soup. Hundreds of thousands of fins end up in Asia, esp. Taiwan to feed our thirst for this ancient delicacy. It is not illegal and the mere practice of shark's fin soup should not be condemned, but what started out as a rare and expensive delicacy has become an everyday inexpensive common menu item. I think we should all as foodies, be able to control our appetites on certain things and maintain sustainability.
I know that I myself will not be having shark's fin soup anytime soon, until I can be certain that conditions have improved for the shark population.-COLLAPSE
So is it perfectly legal for shark fin soup to be served in American restaurants? How do folks know if it was landed according to the stricter American rules?