Proposed shark fin legislation in California

The ongoing debate over shark fin soup continues in California with proposed legislation which aims to curtail the import of fins and prevent the brutal practice of “finning”. Currently, it is illegal to bring in sharks without the fins, but a loophole exists which allows for the import of fins from countries such as China and Mexico, where animal protection legislation is lax or non-existent. If passed, California would join Hawaii in the efforts to prevent shark fins from making it into the soup bowl.  The New York Times recently reported on the issue from California, bringing to light many different viewpoints from the Asian community.

I admire many of the opinions expressed by many of the first generation Americans quoted in this article. It is hard to go against family tradition, especially notoriously traditional Asian families. The concerns they express – environmental and ethical – are backed by science and fact. Finning is cruel and wasteful. Finning not only causes the pain of amputation but also condemns the animal to die slowly, either from suffocation or from being defenselessly picked apart by opportunistic scavengers. Ecologically, the removal of the top ocean predator would be devastating in terms of balance.

In contrast, many of the arguments put forth by their elders seem petty if not downright foolish – the notion that we should be free to eat whatever we want, whatever the cost; the idea that tips for waiters would decrease without shark fins for soup; and so on. Pitted against damning evidence that the shark populations is on the brink of disaster, it is hard to find any respect for this viewpoint.

Many groups have used “culture” as reasons for continuing destructive practices – usually in relation to hunting and eating. The whale hunt is another example. Though perhaps less vicious and less wasteful, it ignores the fact that we are still willfully eating species into extinction. We forget that our technological advances and our incredible ability to kill and destroy efficiently has far outstripped that of our long ago ancestors. And for what? A small bowl of soup, gained at the expense of an animal left to die for lack of appendages?

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It’s a Wonderful World: Bluefin Tuna

It’s hard to talk about biodiversity without becoming a little bit depressed at the nature of things.  This month’s catch is the particularly gut-wrenching case of bluefin tuna.

Bluefin tuna can by known by many names, including Atlantic bluefin tuna, northern bluefin tuna or giant bluefin tuna.  They are capable of reaching in excess of 1000lbs with lifespans of around 30 years.  Feeding on smaller fish such as sardines or squids, bluefin tuna are also important predators in the marine food chain.  Unfortunately for them, they are considered a prize food fish in many human cultures, and fetch astronomical prices in the Japanese sushi market.

While bluefin tuna have always been fished, the relatively recent popularity of sushi in Western cultures as well as the advent of seine fishing poses an immense threat to this fish.  Indeed, bluefin populations are approaching collapse in many areas of the world and are already extinct in certain regions. Rough estimates put populations at approximately 30% of historic numbers.

Nature News recently commented on the sad state of the bluefin tuna industry, noting that under-reporting and illegal fisheries are common.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)meets this November 17th in Madrid to discuss the bluefin tuna fisheries and set quotas. But as Nature News noted, this commission has largely been ineffective and a recent report released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) highlights the many faults of this lax and under-regulated industry.

As always, the most effective avenue of change still lies with the consumer.  Eating a species into extinction is just a little bit ridiculous and completely unnecessary.  Add bluefin tuna to your list of seafood no-no’s and check out the Vancouver Aquarium’s Oceanwise program for a list of seafoods that should not be ending up on your dinner plate.

[Photo from http://www.oceanriver.org/AtlanticBluefinTuna.php, original by Chris Park]

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Sharks in peril throughout the world

This week’s Vancouver Sun featured a series of stories on the precarious situation of sharks. All over the world, the numbers of sharks of all species are declining at an alarming rate. Sharks have been around a long time – they are descendant from an ancient lineage of fish with cartilaginous skeletons. These bad boys of the seas have been around in some form or another since before the time of dinosaurs! But over the last century and a bit, they’ve been mislabeled as killers, ignored by biologists, and now hunted voraciously to make soup.

I made the mistake of reading the comments in the Vancouver Sun article and was soon incensed by the level of ignorance. Many comments suggested that the oceans would be better off without the presence of these “vicious” predators. Yes, sharks are predators. But removing the predator from the food chain is disastrous. Look at the UVic bunny situation – it’s a classic example of what happens when prey animals are allowed to run rampant without a natural predator to keep populations under control.

And while it is true that sharks have always been hunted for food, like many other fisheries, it has progressed to a level that is unsustainable. Humans have become better hunters and the demand for shark products has never been greater. But now, we cannot even make the claim that they are hunted for food. It is the demand for shark fins that fuels a majority of the shark hunt. The fins are so valuable and command so much money in Asian markets that many fisherman will simply cut of the fins and throw the shark back.

Luckily, sharks are starting to get more attention from both the public and academia. More and more people are rejecting the necessity of shark fin soup at Asian weddings and questioning the need to eat something that is endangered.

For more information, please consider “Sharkwater” – a documentary about one filmmaker’s experience with the plight of sharks.

[Photo from reefnews.com via Google Images]

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