"Shark's Fin Soup"
A few years ago, around February of 2005, I had the opportunity to visit a tropical fish exporter's operation somewhere in our area. I saw a lot of stuff. Small gobies, anthias, clown fishes, anemones...they all looked great. But what struck a cord was when I saw about 6 blacktip reef sharks about 3 feet long in a individual wooden holding pens. I asked the owner where these were destined and I was told that they were going to be shipped to Hong Kong. He also told me that Hong Kong was importing alot sharks during that time and I wondered if there were that many saltwater enthusiasts in Hong Kong that had the space to hold these kinds of fish. You see, that day I went was about a week before the Chinese Lunar Calendar New Year.
I don't know if it's just a coincidence but what timing that it was pre-New Year that a tropical fish exporter was getting a lot of orders for sharks. The Chinese are so well known for loving "Shark's Fin Soup" you see and I have doubts that a spike in shark imports are because there are more Cantonese people who just so happen to be taking up the salt water aquarium hobby. From hereon, these are all my assumptions and I can not conclusively say that the sharks I saw ended up on the dinner table of various restaurants but there is a big chance that it did. The fact that there is such a booming economy in China and more people simply have more money to spend. I'm guessing that orders for shark's fin having been building up to a steady increase towards the Chinese New Year and purchasers are doing everything scouring the region for suppliers for shark's fin--including suppliers of ornamental tropical fish exporters.
All this was going through my mind driving home. We aren't even giving these fishes a fighting chance. The 3 foot reef sharks are probably a few months old. They haven't even had time to reproduce and we're already catching them for food. I'm guessing that those fins are to be sold for individual shark's fin bowl soups that can go to as high as $100-$200 each. It's angers me that we humans can be so uncompassionate. The fins don't even taste anything, it doesn't provide any real nutrition, all it is, is a status symbol. It's a premium luxury good that hundreds of millions of people aspire to have on an expensive dinner table.
Please take a stand. Please don't support anything that's unsustainable and as inhumane as this. We're killing off everything in our world, one species at a time. Before long, there won't be much for us to enjoy.
The image above is an entry for the Underwater Competition which can be found at http://www.underwatercompetition.com . The photo was taken by Justin Ebert of the USA and it had won 3rd place. I thought of using the image because it was simply amazing at how it showed the kind of waste we do to our world. Fisherfolk would catch the fish, slice off the fins and throw the bodies back out into the open water and leave it lifeless until the fish finally gives up and dies.
I read it all. If it concerns you that much, maybe you should sit down and talk with her. Tell her that you found another person and don't get violent this time.
u typed way to much lolzzz
I dont even want to read all that u typed ... u typed way 2 much lolzz