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100 million sharks killed yearly for their fins


  3. uroborus8
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The top of the ocean's food chain is in danger of extinction yet few seem to care. Shark fins are highly valued in Asia as a symbol of wealth and as a false cure for disease. The $200 a pound price tag has led fishermen to raid the sea and all 375 species of sharks for their fins.

Shark finning is barbaric. They line hook a shark and amputate the fins while the shark is alive and conscious. Then they release the shark back to the ocean where it flounders for hours or even days before bleeding to death or drowning.

100 million sharks are slaughtered yearly. As the top of the food chain, their roll is severely important. Without sharks 80 % of Earth's life is in danger. We may even be endangering our own life by allowing phytoplankton feeders to over populate the oceans reducing the overall number of phytoplankton drastically. (Phytoplankton consume carbon dioxide.)

Sharks are not as dangerous as mythology would have us believe. Sharks are terrified of humans. Only 5 people die from shark attacks yearly, while 8 million people die from starvation. Shark attacks are the result of mistaken identity when human shadows look similar to seals.

Sharks are highly intelligent. They have short term and long term memory. Some my live well over a hundred years. However as long as shark finning is allowed, we may lose this vitally important being. 90% of sharks are already gone. What are you going to do about it?
uroborus8

65 responses // 100 million sharks killed yearly for their fins

  • I'll never understand how people can be so cruel. Poor sharks. =(
    Becky6378
  • http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Sharkwater/70080819?trkid=...
    Please see this film. Sharks need love too. And I'm a surfer.
    ac
    • ac
    • 4 months ago
  • "Sharkwater" inspired this post. It was incredibly moving.
    uroborus8
  • I work for a company that uses shark cartilage as one of the ingredients in the product. I just asked my boss where and how the cartilage is obtained, concerned after reading this article. She proceeded to call the manufacturer, and laughed while asking "what do I tell all the environmental freaks who call and ask if we are cutting off sharks' fins and throwing them back into the sea?"
    How depressing that having empathy for other animals makes me a 'freak' in many people's eyes.
    Becky6378
  • http://elleeseymour.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Wind...
    People always fear what they do not understand. Keep the pressure on your boss and research alternatives to shark cartilage.
    uroborus8
  • That's right -- keep the pressure on your boss and don't just let this go away. Sometimes it takes some persistance to create change.
    jefftego
  • Do people really let superstition get to them that much? At this day of age especially.
    cerealforeal
  • Just ask folks who are bitten by sharks.
    Sorry but I don't buy this, not at all!
    PatrickEdwardMurray
    1 response to this
  • I'm not going to do a darn thing about it.

    Human beings..people are more important than sharks!
    PatrickEdwardMurray
    3 responses to this
  • PatrickEdwardMurray, sharks, being at the top of the food chain in the ocean, control in large part the ocean's ecosystem. Throwing this ecosystem out of balance will affect all the life forms within. This includes plankton which provides us humans with around 80% of our breathable oxygen.

    The ignorant mindset that allows for "people are more important than sharks!" does not take into account that survival of our species is dependent on other species' survival. That's why it's called an ecosystem; it involves many parts.

    Not that I really would expect you to do a darn thing about it either way.
    ac
    • ac
    • 4 months ago
  • I think that is a narrow view, Patrick. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. But a species that has been around for 400 million years and plays a crucial role in the ecosystem and food chain shouldn't be dismissed as expendable.

    And whether they are more important than people -- that depends on perspective. There are environmental and food chain consequences if sharks go extinct. Not many consequences to the environment if we go extinct.
    jefftego
  • "Not many consequences to the environment if we go extinct. "

    Except for the beneficial ones! ;)
    ac
    • ac
    • 4 months ago
  • Nature has a nice little way of handling a species that runs rampant - it's called extinction. Maybe it's not a bad thing humans no longer populate the earth.
    VoyagerFilms
  • It is an interesting (and sad) commentary on how we have completely separated ourselves from the natural world. The extinction of certain species creates impact up and down the chain. The extinction of humans provides relief to the entire natural world.
    jefftego
  • That's horrible; I don't understand why sharkfinners aren't more widely persecuted--obviously this is cruelty to animals. I feel like sharks just get the short end of the stick because of the negative light shed upon them in the media.

    And not to put such a lighthearted spin on a serious topic, but I have eaten a lot of sharkfin soup and it's really expensive and doesn't taste that great.
    Peewong
  • jefftego,

    Believe it or not I am an enviromentalist.

    But, you have to draw the line...

    If you believe that the environment is MORE important than people, then you have a problem.

    I don't like 'gators or Crocs either..what do you say if you just happen to be fairly close to one and it its hungry?

    Now Mr. or Mrs. Gator or Croc doesn't know a heck of a lot but it's hungry..does that mean that you would let yourself be his lunch or dinner?

    No..I don't think so.

    I believe in taking care of our Earth because it's the only home we have, if we don't, well, where else do we go?

    But saying animals are totally more important...that's nuts...

    Tell you what...

    Know what will happen if we go extinct?

    It's called The End of The World....
    PatrickEdwardMurray
    3 responses to this
  • PatrickEdwardMurray

    "But, you have to draw the line... " The only line I see here is the one that separates
    looneys from the sane, and you seam to be standing on the former side.

    This is not an argument about wether you have the right to defend your self against an animal. This is about saving a species (sharks) from extinction.
    arcadiabc
  • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7446112.stm


    DECLINE OF 99 PERCENT!!! OVER TWO CENTURIES IN MEDITERRANEAN!

    this is ridiculous. thanks for posting this!
    lemonsun12
  • "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

    We humans have no concept of "BALANCE".
    It took the Earth a long time to get where she is now, and here we come, mutilating every living thing on the planet.

    This is "The" planet, not "Our" planet!
    And the sad part is, we may never realize that.

    Do The Evolution!
    END TRANSMISSION
    PajamaDan
  • WOW... every1 just attacked patrick. there...
    its sad... though....
    kewal91
  • shark fin soup anyone?
    fuckbush
  • Why the outrage over this and not cows being branded with scalding irons, separated from their families, and slaughtered by having their throats slit as they hang from their feet, still alive and choking on their own blood just to make your meal?

    Unless we care about both, it seems rather hypocritical......

    We don't NEED shark fins and we don't NEED hamburgers, therefore the argument that the cow's body isn't being wasted doesn't stand on its own two feet. You simply don't need to eat it, in fact you're better off not eating it.

    This is shameful and morally indefensible, but so are hamburgers.
    Colonial_Zombie
    2 responses to this
  • It's insane to think that there's supposedly 100 million less sharks than this time last year.

    I don't know if I'd rather have the earth with 100 million less people or the sea with 100 million more sharks.
    mattbrawn
  • http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7052/sharksandwich0g...
    Two word review :

    Shit Sandwich.
    BenDorries
  • That price tag is the problem. They need to remove that amount of money for the pounds and things will be fine. They wouldn't feel the need to find the sharks, because hell that's well worth the hunt. $200 per pound...wow.

    Sharks do have a nasty bite but apparently so do humans. No shark has ever been as vicious as a human. Sharks eat their prey for food. Humans hunt them for their fins and torture them.

    I'm surprised that people whine about waterboarding when no one is dead but only simulation of near death and yet slicing fins off sharks is ok.

    Lame. People suck with what they deem important.
    J_Jammer
  • No one should hunt any animal for a single body part, nor hunt them to extinction. Humans need to wake up before we kill everything including ourselves.
    shroomfairy
  • Man Fuck that Let's stop shit like this..People..But I have a plan..Read my POST and you will understand..join in or not..I Will stand by you And this is try...Are you ready join in with your movement and let's make this world wide with a the movemnts of all movement's...Forever Peace,Freedom and love of Earth..Day2Day1nSociety..Down til the bloody end..Thank you
    Day2Day1nSociety
  • http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/37366
    The number of sharks in the Mediterranean has fallen by 97 percent in the last 200 years, putting the sea's ecological balance at risk, a report released on Wednesday said.
    jefftego
  • Has anyone ever had shark fin soup? It's a delicious delicacy served for special occasions in different cultures.

    Is it any more barbaric to hunt for shark fins than it is to slaughter cows and chickens for our daily consumption habits?
    jsaraco
    3 responses to this
  • When you read an article that has them cutting the legs off of cows and leaving them to die then you can compare the two, otherwise there is no comparison.
    J_Jammer
    1 response to this
  • Only 5 people die a year from shark attacks eh? I have problem with that math given that 8 people have been killed by sharks in San Diego this year alone....(last year was 12 in SD)

    ...I kinda think that we're not the only ones to have shark attacks...thus I believe that number should be slightly higher...like alot.
    nickdotnet
  • While I'm at it....90% of sharks are gone eh?

    That seems a little exaggerated too....
    nickdotnet
  • I'm hoping for a massive tsunami to wipe out a couple million of us. Hell, make it 50 million. At this point, it would be little more than a gesture. We reproduce like damn rabbits anyway.
    benjaminV
  • We need an international governing body that regulates fishing limits.
    uroborus8
    3 responses to this
  • Such a westernised way of thinking - shark finning needs to be curbed but to ban it entirely would be another example of culture being ebbed away.
    keepmarching
  • does any body know where sharks are a keystone species?
    church
  • http://www.oceana.org/sharks/home/
    Here at Oceana, we are very familiar with shark finning -- in fact, we have an entire campaign devoted to stopping it. If you're interested in getting involved or want to know more about the horrible practice, stop by our sharks page http://www.oceana.org/sharks/home/ and today's blog http://community.oceana.org/node/1165, which has a link to exclusive photos.
    emilyoceana
  • i feel kinda guilty but my grandpa made some fin soup a long time ago and it was really delicious
    tasidude
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