Dead but not useless: A hammerhead shark awaits slaughter; its fins, particularly, are highly valued. (Photo : Getty Images)
Jaws might have dropped upon the sight of sharks--not anymore coursing through the water, though the same kind of reaction could be elicited--piled high and lying lifeless in a market.
About 100 scalloped hammerhead sharks, mostly young hammerheads, were seen in a market in Sanya in Hainan on April 9, reported Hinews.
Their meat was sold for a mere 15 yuan per kilogram.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) cited the scalloped hammerhead sharks as endangered species. Their fins “are highly valued in international trade,” according to its website.
CITES is “an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.”
China is a signatory of CITES but the government did not categorize hammerhead sharks as endangered and protected species in the country, according to the Global Times.
There is a strong global demand for shark fins.
Every year, “up to 73 million” sharks are killed, according to Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute.
AWI said that nine states in the USA have restaurants selling shark fin soups. More than 55 of these restaurants are in New York.
One of them, the Golden Unicorn Restaurant in East Broadway in Chinatown, Manhattan, sells a bowl of shark fin soup for $65 (420 yuan), according to Business Insider.
Located in Bristol, England, Dynasty, an “authentic Chinese cuisine” restaurant as written on its main entrance, offers shark fin soup, reported The Bristol Post in March.
The soup sells twice as much as the other soups on the restaurant’s menu.
“There are national and European laws in place which restrict the sourcing and importation of shark fins,” said a spokeswoman from the city council of Bristol.
She added: “The trade of particular shark species is unlawful, unless they have the proper permits and certificates which prove that they have been sourced in an ethical and sustainable way.”
StopSharkFinning.net describes a shark fin soup as “a soup or broth of Chinese origin made with shark fin and flavored with chicken or some other stock.”
The site said that the shark fin “has very little flavor” and is basically added because “it is seen as a delicacy.”
