The Dorsal Fin

The Associated Press recently released the above video feature about a campaign to curb shark fin soup consumption in Hong Kong. The grass-roots movement hopes to have the controversial delicacy removed from restaurant menus. Shark fin soup has come under fire due to the acquisition of shark fins through shark finning, in which live sharks have their fins cut off and are then thrown back in the water to drown.

Shark fin soup is believed by some to have multiple health benefits including increased energy, heart disease prevention, improved skin quality, and increased sexual potency. However, there is no evidence to support any of these purported benefits.

A video of a finned whale shark filmed in the Philippines by Chung Shan Shan, a Hong Kong biology professor, has helped to fuel the movement against shark fin soup. The campaign seems to be supported primarily by the younger generation, some of whom, have decided to go against tradition and serve alternatives to shark fin soup at their own wedding banquets.

For more information, check out the full AP report.

WARNING: Video features footage of live sharks being finned.

While Discovery Channel has faced much criticism for some of its programming choices for Shark Week over the past few years (including this year), there have been a few features popping up on Discovery Networks YouTube channel over the past few days that are conservation based. The video above which features some of the first known footage of shark finning, according to the intro text in the clip (typos aside).

The Beqa Adventure Divers blog and this article from The Huffington Post have pretty much summed up the negative aspects of Shark Week. Rather than focus on the negatives this year (like I did last year), I’m going to try shift my focus toward the “positive” or at least “educational” aspects of Shark Week. Hopefully, they won’t be few and far between this time around.

San Francisco’s Aquarium of the Bay will be featuring a new exhibit featuring comic characters from Jim Toomey’s comic Sherman’s Lagoon, according to a press release.

The exhibit, “Sherman’s Lagoon: Finning Isn’t Funny,” focuses on the ecological threats posed by shark finning as told through the cast of the Sherman’s Lagoon. The exhibit will include comics, daily presentations, and “an action station where visitors of all ages can help prevent shark finning.” In addition, visitors to the exhibit can also sign individual letters to be mailed to National Marine Fisheries Service in support of international bans on finning.

The exhibit opens June 26, 2010. Jim Toomey will be at the aquarium on opening day to promote the exhibit, sign books, and conduct a “Cartooning 101″ class. The exhibit will be open throughout the summer.

According to KITV state legislature voted to approve Hawaii’s “Shark Fin Ban” (Senate Bill 2169), and the bill is now heading to a final vote.

If passed, the bill would ban catching sharks within three miles of the shoreline and would prohibit possession and distribution of sharks and shark fins in Hawaii.

Hawaii's Shark Fin Ban would put an end to the legal shark fin market in the state.

According to KITV, the final vote could come as early as Friday (04/23). If the bill passes and is signed into law, it would take effect on July 1, 2010. However, there would be a one year grace period for restaurants and vendors who sell shark products to sell off existing inventories.

While supporters of the ban view shark finning as animal cruelty, opponents of a ban have argued that the consumption of shark fins (mainly in shark fin soup) is a “cultural custom.” In some cultures shark fin soup is viewed as status symbol. It has also been purported to possesses health benefits (none of which have any scientific backing).

SharkTruth's Happy Hearts Love Sharks contest encourages participants to skip shark fin soup on their wedding day in hopes of winning a trip to dive with whale sharks. (Image courtesy of SharkTruth.com)

Shark fin soup has traditionally been viewed as a sign of wealth in Chinese culture, and a lack of it at a wedding banquet can have negative implications. Shark Truth founders, Claudia Li and Vivian Kwong, created the non-profit group with the idea of educating people of Asian cultures about the practice of finning to harvest shark fins used in the traditional delicacy. Their “Stop the Soup” pledge offers couples a valid reason to forgo shark fin soup on their wedding day, and their “Happy Hearts Love Sharks” contest provides even more incentive to make that pledge.
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