SHARKS!

Oceanic white-tip killed for their fin.

PHOTO BY ANDY CORNISH

Today i was just browsing through BBC news and came across the article "First ban on shark and manta ray trade comes into force". 5 types of sharks are protected under the ban - the oceanic white-tip, the porbeagle and three other species of hammerhead sharks.

It is surprising how long it took for the ban to come into place. According to McGrath, efforts against unregulated trade of sharks started since the 1990s but only managed to be achieved last year at the Cites meeting in Bangkok.

Due to increased shark attacks in western Australia, 172 sharks were culled in a 13 week trial, of which none of the 172 caught was a white shark (BBC, 2014). Also, shark's fin soup is a traditional Chinese dish that serves as a symbol of status and wealth. In the past, Chinese believed that the absence of shark's fin soup at a wedding is an indicator that the bride is marring into a poor family. Although people know that it is not true now, 2 out of 3 recent wedding dinners that i have attended still serve shark's fin.

Shark's fin soup

PHOTO BY PAUL HILTON

After watching Jaw by Steven Spielberg at the age of 8, I really hated sharks and would gobble up shark's fin (although its tasteless), hoping to kill all the sharks in the world. Its all in the past now and I refrain from eating it whenever I can. When planning my sister's upcoming wedding dinner, we requested the restaurant to swap shark's fin with crab meat. Hopefully our younger generation will discard the traditional thinking that we must have shark's fin at weddings.

References: 

BBC News. (2014). Matt McGrath: First ban on shark and manta ray trade comes into force. [ONLINE]. September 2014. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29175592. [Accessed 14 September 2014]

BBC News. (2014). More than 170 sharks caught under Australia cull policy. [ONLINE]. May 2014. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27304580. [Accessed 14 September 2014]