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02.18.2008 // 2 CommentsAndy Budd: Shark!

Andy Budd: Shark!

Andy and I share an interest in sharks (although he’s certainly got more experience with them than I do!). Today, he writes a nice post about a huge threat facing our favorite fishes: finning. This is the practice of catching sharks, slicing off their fins, and throwing them back into the water to die. The reason? Shark Fin Soup. It’s a delicacy, and companies are willing to pay top dollar for shark fins. Problem is, sharks are being slaughtered in record numbers, to the point where areas once brimming with the amazing predators are now almost completely devoid of them. It’s bad news for the whole marine ecosystem to lose apex predators. What can you do? Help the anti-finning movement by avoiding any restaurant that sells Shark Fin Soup.

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http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2008/02/shark/

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  1. 001 // Sara Flemming // 02.18.2008 // 7:07 PM

    What a hideous thing to do, good lord; just tossing the poor thing back in? Ugh.

  2. 002 // Jeff Croft // 02.18.2008 // 7:28 PM

    Totally. I think the reason they do this is two fold:

    1. Shark meat (and the rest of the shark) isn’t worth very much, but the fins are worth a lot.
    2. The industry pays third-world fishermen pennies to go out on their tiny paddle boats to fish for shark fins, and these guys don’t have room to store the whole shark on their boats. They can get hundreds of fins in a catch, because fins don’t take up much room, but they could only get a few full sharks.

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