Ocean Sentry
Every year, millions of shark fins are sold at Chinese markets to satisfy the demand for shark fin soup, a dish considered a delicacy, but it has been impossible to pinpoint which sharks from which regions are most threatened by this trade.
Now DNA research has traced shark fins from the burgeoning Hong Kong market all the way back to the sharks” geographic origin.
The scientists found that in some cases fins from scalloped hammerhead sharks came from endangered populations thousands of miles away.
The findings highlight the need to better protect these sharks from international trade, the researchers say. About 73 million sharks are killed for this trade each year, of which 1-3 million are hammerheads, according to Ellen Pikitch a professor of marine science at Stony Brook University in New York. These sharks are particularly prized for their large fin size, and just 1 kg (2.2 lbs) can sell for about $120.
Protection for hammerhead sharks will be considered at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at its March 2010 meeting in Qatar…. Read Full Article
