I finally managed to get around to watching Gordon Ramsay’s programme, Shark Bait, on the acquisition and trade of shark fins.
Horrifying. Thought-provoking. Saddening.
It maddens me that seemingly so little is being done about the trade – catches are not monitored, and there’s little control over the size of the sharks caught. One of the fishing boats in the programme (the only one Ramsay was allowed to board to watch the catch being brought in) had 800 hooks on a line 12 miles long. Not to mention the fact that the boat was out at sea for a month. Do the maths. The sharks being caught weren’t even adults – they were yearlings, if you were lucky, and even then they were finned and thrown into the hold.
And let’s not forget that most larger sharks are simply finned and dumped overboard. Alive. Bunny-huggers bang on about how our meat is slaughtered, but at the very least we kill the bloody thing before we start cutting it up! 😡
30 tons of fins were brought in by one boat. Again, more maths. The fins make up about 5% of just one shark.
Sharks take years to reach sexual maturity, and even then they don’t produce anywhere near the numbers of young that bony fish (like cod, for instance) do. Some of the sharks shown in the programme (the silky shark) produce a litter of, at most, two dozen every couple of years. Some others, like the family that includes the great white, produce even fewer. And yet more, like the sand tigers which are a favourite of the aquarium scene, produce fewer than that.
A note at the end of the programme mentioned that the Costa Rican government had closed all privately-owned fishing docks in order to combat the trade, and that four high-profile Chinese restaurants in London had removed shark fin soup from their menus altogether. It’s a start, at least.
The thing is, I know that most people won’t be that bothered. “It’s a shark, why should we care?” People SHOULD care, because at the rate they’re being fished these fascinating beasts won’t be around forever – and they managed for nearly 400million years before mankind came along.
By: Lincoln 7 - 31st January 2011 at 16:37
more than a little two faced
at least the others are doing it for food and a living
doing it for pure fun is even more sickening and perhaps he should have made sure his house was clean before condemming others !
Just read the Daily Mail re this, and the fact that an absolutely staggering 70 million are killed each year.
Why cant the major Countries in the world place a moritorium on the sharks, as they did for the Whales, but there again,who is going to argue with 1.3 Billion Chinese?
Lincoln. 7
By: DazDaMan - 31st January 2011 at 16:20
at least the others are doing it for food and a living
The problem with that statement is that shark-finning is extremely wasteful – 95% of the shark is thrown back into the sea! So how is that “doing it for food”??
By: tornado64 - 31st January 2011 at 16:17
Hmmmmm
more than a little two faced
at least the others are doing it for food and a living
doing it for pure fun is even more sickening and perhaps he should have made sure his house was clean before condemming others !
By: Lincoln 7 - 31st January 2011 at 14:11
I don’t think that anything we do will stop shark finning. Somewon on here stated WE nearly decimated the Cod stocks in the North Sea, do you remember the Cod war in the 70s, I do, very well, and in the end, our pathetic Government caved in to Iceland, by putting Limits on our fishermen look at Grimsby, the largest fishing port in the world, well, it aint now, thanks to more limits being introduced by the E.U I have been wreck fishing in the mid shipping chanel, and seen French and Spanish trawlers flagrantly breaking the law. I was off the Lizard, again wreck fishing 3 yrs ago, when we saw a huge fishing vessel, our skipper got up fairly close to this ship, and we saw on his fish finder a massive shoal of mackerel, there were massive pipes in the water, and our skipper said it was hoovering the fish up like a gigantic suction machine.And where was this ship from, JAPAN. we get all the crap thrown at us in this country, and just sit back and take it.I also remember beach fishing at Ramsgate, and there was a French trawler, netting so close, that we all cast our 6 oz weights at the wheel house, yes, I know we shouldn’t have,but that was OUR way of telling them to F. OFF. which they did.
When are WE going to stand up against giving in to everything our governmment tells us to, and I mean WHOEVER is in, if for every shark fin that was cut off, the treasury had to pay £50.00 to a British charity I bet they would do something. But sadly it’s all pie in the sky
Lincoln. 7
😡
By: Sky High - 31st January 2011 at 12:38
” Wrong in our society ” ?
So you’re saying murdering children is all right in some cases. ?
I don’t agree. Murdering children is wrong.
That’s because we see it as murdering children. They don’t. So, by our standards it is wrong. But not by theirs.
By: J31/32 - 31st January 2011 at 12:34
Hmmmmm
By: BumbleBee - 31st January 2011 at 11:38
” Wrong in our society ” ?
So you’re saying murdering children is all right in some cases. ?
I don’t agree. Murdering children is wrong.
By: tornado64 - 31st January 2011 at 11:34
Another example :
Albino African children are sometimes murdered so that their body parts can be used in tribal medicine.
Right or wrong ? Or simply acceptable,because it’s ” part of their culture ” ?
it is wrong in our society correct , but there’s the thing
they are not telling us that that is the way we should live
we try to tell other cultures ( mostly by occupation ) that they should adopt our methods
i remember all hell breaking loose because germany tried that 39-45
whilst some things are awful that are practiced in other cultures
does not mean we should wade in with our size 9’s to make them follow our less than perfect ideals
By: BumbleBee - 31st January 2011 at 11:14
Another example :
Albino African children are sometimes murdered so that their body parts can be used in tribal medicine.
Right or wrong ? Or simply acceptable,because it’s ” part of their culture ” ?
By: PMN - 31st January 2011 at 10:52
Paul,some cultures still practice female genital mutilation as part of their ” heritage “. Do you think that’s acceptable in the 21st century ? Sky High,would you say ” that cannot be wrong ” ?
Well they’re human beings which means they’re intelligent, so they can make decisions for themselves as to whether that’s right or not. They’re still doing it, which tends to suggest they’re happy enough. We in our Western ways can think it’s wrong all we like but it simply isn’t our place to tell them it’s wrong. We can think it but we can’t expect them to change.
By: tornado64 - 31st January 2011 at 10:00
what sky high is saying is wholely correct
and in a large part why the rich west ( america / uk ) are unliked by many nations
we try to sell our ideals to the rest of the world with no considderation of other cultures
thanks to this attitude mcdonalds restraunts are now an ugly blemmish in many worldwide historical citys/towns
genital mutilation may be wrong in our eyes but it is historical rituals practiced by historical cultures
tattooing faces is looked on as bad practice here but in new zealand it is looked on more favourably ( are they a backwards culture too ??? )
currently a large percentage in the uk would give thier hind teath to be in new zealand so i doubt it !!
to some degree it is also why the war on terror is still being faught
we are trying to tell an ancient culture how to live correctly
the biggest trouble is everything in our culture should be free of flaws before telling everyone else in the world they should be adopting it
and looking at our presently failing society i believe they may well have more things right about society than we do
whilst our society ignores the old and leaves them to die in cold flats because greed has taken heating away from thier options
and because they are too busy working or protesting about sharks with no fins to care for them correctly
other societys integrate the old and have them with them
happily shark finning to keep them alive and clothed
even though they are poor and there is no other way to make a living
so i ask , wich culture is correct ???
my money is far away from some of the western ideals ( most of wich are tumbling like a house of cards presently !! )
By: Sky High - 31st January 2011 at 07:27
BB- I still maintain that there is no “global” right and wrong and that it is arrogant for the West to maintain that their standards are those which should prevail. There is much that we see around the world which offends us and much in the West which offends other cultures. Unlike Peedee I would not bring “God” into the equation. “God” has much to answer for without involving him in shark finning.
By: PeeDee - 31st January 2011 at 01:42
My point exactly Bumble.
Nighty night. It’s a school night and I’m up too late again!
By: BumbleBee - 31st January 2011 at 01:35
Paul,some cultures still practice female genital mutilation as part of their ” heritage “. Do you think that’s acceptable in the 21st century ? Sky High,would you say ” that cannot be wrong ” ?
By: PeeDee - 31st January 2011 at 01:32
Because I can look back at mine and say that was bad. And we stopped it because it was bad.
It takes arrogance like mine to make these idiots change, otherwise they will just carry on, 70 million Sharks a year in the past….but doubling now as the Chinese economy soars.
You (Yes you, and everybody on this forum) know it’s wrong.
But we cannot tell them it’s wrong because they’ve done it for thousands of years and it’s their culture? Gimme a break. It needs to be stopped, by a bigger outfit than Greenpeace or similar.
Is it not PC to tell such people that their heritage stinks? I do, I am and I will.
They should be given no evidence of support. None. Allowing them to stand on a heritage platform is support for barbaric cruelty. It’s not even a necessary foodstuff, it’s a banquet dish to tart up a Wedding or similar.
By: PMN - 31st January 2011 at 01:11
Well, Paul. Good riddance to bad heritage.
Again, how do we define “bad”? Sky High is bang on, such attitudes as yours really are tremendously arrogant. What on Earth gives you the right to say someone else’s heritage is “bad”? :confused:
By: PeeDee - 31st January 2011 at 00:50
Well, Paul. Good riddance to bad heritage.
We did it, to a lot of our barbaric “Traditions”.
If they want to advance, they must change. OK, Japan is advanced but to carry on eating a Soup made of the Fins etc. is heritage they should stop.
And the Tigers, the Horns etc. None of which work, proven by real science. It’s all about education and redirection of incorrect beliefs and myths.
I’ve tried Shark Fin Soup actually, in Kobe. It’s possibly the worst tasting soup I have ever had. China last December was most certainly the worst….I still get a lump rising in my throat when I think of it!!
As I said, I’m sure their own culture and God(s) must actually want to preserve life? I dunno what their book says, but if it advocates wiping out a species, then I’d be surprised. Mind you, there is one “Big book” which advises removal and death of non-believers, so owt is possible.
By: PMN - 30th January 2011 at 22:28
No. I think you will actually find, that Western standards do tend to be correct in most ways.
The difficulty comes when we try define the term “correct”. How is it reasonable to go to another race of people and tell them the way they live is wrong and they should adopt western ideals? If they did that then their way of life and their entire heritage would be destroyed which is almost as tragic in itself as hunting a species to extinction. I just wish some of these people could perhaps see the wider picture that we can see, but I wouldn’t for one nanosecond want them to ditch their way of life and adopt ours. That’s a profoundly unreasonable expectation.
By: PeeDee - 30th January 2011 at 21:03
Seeing the acts listed above as barbarism is parochial. The world, like it or not, is a diverse range of cultures and attitudes – it is arrogant to see Western values as those which should be the standard. I do not condone any act of barbarism or cruelty per se, but I do accept that there are those who have entirely different cultural values and they cannot be wrong. It is what they are.
No. I think you will actually find, that Western standards do tend to be correct in most ways. The cultural values of these sorts of people might be OK to them as they have not been educated in the long term damage and so on. Most of these cultures add very low value onto life, even of their own kin so we cannot expect them to consider an animal/fish. But, no matter how hungry they are, or how many millions of $ the practice brings or how different their culture is, it’s wrong. It’s probably wrong in the eyes of their own God or Gods FFS!
I for one do not respect the diversity of cultures on this sort of thing.
By: PMN - 30th January 2011 at 20:48
I understand cultural differences but I think we, as the most intelligent species and the only one that can make ethical choices on how we eat, have a responsibility to damage the planet as little as possible. If we’re hunting a species close to extinction then I don’t think the excuse of cultural differences quite cuts it as a reason to carry on if we’re aware of the problem, we should have the intelligence to realise that certain things we do are unsustainable and divert our efforts to trying to find a more viable alternative. If the issue was solely cultural differences and not liking, for example, the way other people kill their food then fair enough, but I don’t see why any group of humans should assume they have the right to wipe out an entire species of any animal.
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January 26, 2011 at 7:09 am