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| credit: INTERPOL |
Cynically exploiting a loop-hole in the international ban against shark finning adopted last year, shark hunters are leaving valuable shark fins attached to a butchered shark's spinal column
[photo]. The fleshy carcass is dumped overboard, so the butchers can still fill their boats with fins. The ban requires that shark fins must be "naturally attached to the body". The tactic was discovered by Costa Rican coast guard who notified Interpol. A purple notice was sent out to 190 countries that adopted the ban. Interpol tracks and suppress fisheries crimes that cost the global economy $23 billion each year and is connect to other forms of organized, international crime. More than 30 million sharks are estimated to be killed on an annual basis supplying the trade. In Asia shark fin is considered a delicacy with curative properties, but education campaigns coupled with better law enforcement have succeeded in reducing demand as measured by falling prices in Hong Kong and other Chinese markets.
