Sunday, October 23, 2011

Alarming Scale of Global Shark Fin Trade Revealed in New Photos

Pew Environment Group this week released a series of photos that are simply jaw-dropping as they reveal the scale of shark fishing for fins. The group released a report earlier this year noting the world's 20 largest shark catchers, including Taiwan, which is where these photos were taken.

According to Pew, the images captured depict "fins and body parts of biologically vulnerable shark species, such as scalloped hammerhead and oceanic whitetip, being readied for market."

And it isn't hard to determine that this is just a snapshot of the larger picture of shark finning.

2 comments:

John Latto said...

Shocking images indeed. I think the 5th image, which is the least graphic, is perhaps the most shocking because it gives you some idea of the magnitude of this trade.

If you click on the 'We're going to hell in a handbasket' label on the right hand side you'll see an equally graphic photograph of shark finning - Tears of blood - from last year's wildlife photographer of the year award

Adam Eshraghi-Johnston said...

In this case the killing of the sharks was for the “delicacy” of shark fin soup, but I see it as simply another reason to justify doing something that people know is wrong for people who are willing to pay enough money. Just as I was discussing with Professor Latto, with the last Javan rhinoceros being killed in Indonesia for its horn, it marks the end of another population of endangered species for some absurd reason. Just as the population of rhinos was decimated due to the horn being regarded as an “aphrodisiac” or “cancer cure”, are endangered sharks really worth being killed for something people deem as a luxury?