So lets start by saving sharks. Why? Because they are one symptom of a giant problem: the collapse of all of the world's fisheries by 2048. Folks, that's in OUR lifetime, not some distant century away. Think over 8,000,000 people starving to death every year is drastic? Then consider how much more desperate world hunger will be when there are virtually no more edible fish in the sea. Think of all the nations that depend on the deep blue bounty. As Ransom Myers states in the Dalhousie University report: "If present fishing levels persist, these great fish will go the way of the dinosaur."
The bright side to this very dark problem is the simplicity of one solution. Don't eat shark fin soup. Don't consume any shark products at this point. Refuse to patronize restaurants that serve shark fin soup until they remove it from their menu and encourage others to do the same. It's the easiest action we can all take that will have enormous impact. In this instance we are not being asked to make any large sacrifices, compromise comfort or even donate any money. We are just being asked to avoid one kind of soup!
This I think we can all do!
Find out more about the precarious state of our oceans and what you can do to help by visiting the following websites: Wild Aid, Sea Shepherd, Shark Trust, Saving Sharks, Bite Back, and of course the Sharkwater website.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada website is the source department for information related to COSEWIC and SARA. All other satistics and information are from the websites of WildAid, Sea Shepherd, SharkWater, Sharktrust, BiteBack, and Dalhousie University and SeaWeb.
Article comments
1 - Deano
Nice set of articles Nathalie! Keep it up!
2 - Nathalie
Thank you so much. This topic means a great deal to me. I appreciate that!
Cheers
Nat
3 - Aaman
What, no recipe?:)
4 - Nathalie
Shark Fin has no flavor. Try using tofu. Same effect without the carnage.
5 - bliffle
Sharkfin soup gets it's flavor entirely from the herbs and sauces that are added to it. Uninformed people believe that it is an aphrodisiac.
6 - RJ
Great article! Here's some interesting information:
"Spiny dogfish are fished for food in Europe, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Chile. The meat is primarily consumed in England, France, the Benelux countries and Germany. The fins and tails are processed into fin needles and are used in less expensive versions of shark fin soup in Chinese cuisine. In England it is sold in "fish and chip shops" as "rock salmon", in France it is sold as "small salmon" (saumonette) and in Belgium it is sold as "sea eel" (zeepaling). It is also used as fertilizer, liver oil, and pet food, and, because of its availability and manageable size, as a popular vertebrate dissection specimen, especially in high schools."
Their conservation status is "Vulnerable" ...
7 - Nathalie
Thanks so much for commenting and adding the extra info guys. There's so much to talk about on this issue. I didn't even get into all the health stores and pharmacies that sell shark cartilage pills for joints and arthritis. I even saw one bottle labeled as "prevents tumors". Can you believe that?
8 - RJ
"I didn't even get into all the health stores and pharmacies that sell shark cartilage pills for joints and arthritis."
Yeah, my grandmother (who has terrible arthritis in her hands) once received some shark cartilage pills from a "natural health" store as a gift from a family member. As you can imagine, it didn't help...