Khatijah – As PandanKia pointed out, “overharvesting” comes from greed i.e. commercial fishing for $$$ which means big boats, big nets that aim to catch big fish like cod, mackerel for big money. However, the little fishes left behind may not survive the rough seas to a ripe old age (as the industrial fishers think they would) because all the adults are not there to protect them from predators! The big nets end up catching/damaging other small species’ survival.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/what-we-are-doing/sustainable-seafood/seafood-what-not-to-buy
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061018-fishing.html

Eugene – Endangered species around the world are threatened largely due to the culture/traditions associated to their killing. Tigers are almost extinct for blood sport, their skins and perceived medicinal values. Is it easy to stop hunters in the West e.g. US and UK who LOVE hunting? The answer is no.

Thus, it’s also not easy to stop the Chinese from eating shark’s fin soup. How can you suddenly stop something that dates back more than 2,000 years old? If I were to ask you stop brushing your teeth starting from NOW and NEVER brush it again, could you do it? ;-)

See brief history & background of shark’s fin soup here: http://www.knet.co.za/sharkmeat/shark_history.htm#beginning

PandanKia mentions this fabulous point about the popular (and unfair) blame on the Chinese for being the sole reason behind the extinction of sharks. As someone from the the publicity industry, let me share with you the world’s oldest lesson “sensation sells” i.e. what’s graphic, horrifying, strange catches and holds people’s attention more than melting ice in Antartica that threatens to wipe out everyone on Earth in 50 years.

Why do you think the panda is WWF’s mascot? Compare that to the sang kancil, orang utan or dugong – which one do people remember most? The panda is cute and it’s easier to feel bad about pandas going extinct than some plain ugly little frog in the Amazon forest even though that frog may hold the key to curing HIV/AIDS!

Also, since everyone is blaming the Chinese, why interfere with the public’s disbelief if the other 4 “predators” of sharks can quietly continue what they are doing since nobody’s paying attention?

In truth, since the number of sharks have died down, most shark’s fin soup is fake anyway. Isn’t China famous for fake stuff?

As I’m living in China now, I can tell you it’s amazing the variety of fake stuff they can produce – heck, did you know they can make their own eggs??? I see a lot of shark fins on sale here but guess what? Nobody’s buying. Even the locals say, “You ke neng si jia de!” (They could be fake!)

You’d also be surprised at the conservation and energy-saving efforts that the Chinese are admirably doing as the media usually picks up bad news…

Shark meat IS on sale in many places e.g. Europe, US, China, Kota Kinabalu and even markets in Penang if you know how to look for them.

Here’s some info on the threats to shark populations from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/conservation/sharks/

Since quite a number of people here are passionate about saving wildlife, shall we stop fighting and find out how we can save them instead? It’s a shame to waste such passion :)

PANDANKIA – NO EXCUSE FOR YOU, YOU OWE KHATIJAH AN APOLOGY

You seem to think that because something is a tradition, that it should not be questioned and just practised forever. I would argue that there are good and bad traditions and one hallmark of a good tradition is that it can adapt to contemporary situations and take note when it is doing more harm than good. The consumption of sharksfin is not a good tradition because sharksfins have no nutritional value, can contain high amounts of mercury, and are causing the world’s population of many shark species to crash. And you are wrong when you say that our consumption of sharksfin is not a reason that their numbers are plummeting. It is the CHIEF reason why their numbers are plummeting.

Your claim that sharks are more a threat to endangered sea turtles and other endangered marine species as they are on the top of the food chain is so misguided and wrong, I don’t know where to begin. That was designed by nature, so are you questioning nature? The main reason most species of wildlife are threatened is due to human activity and consumption patterns. We have overharvested and polluted our oceans and in our frenzy for turtle eggs and bekko (look it up if you don’t know what that is) and overfishing with indiscriminate devices that also kill non-target organisms (like marine turtles and dolphins), we are also sending marine turtles to an untimely end. And seriously, you can hardly find shark meat for sale, so if any shark meat is harvested at all for consumption, it is a rarity. Sharks are killed for their fins to feed the sharkfin market and people like you. Period.

ppsstt…..i think ur little post is creating quite a debae here! lol u got a stalker hor?

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/BlacktipReefShark/BlacktipReefShark.html
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/Descript/GReefShark/GReefShark.html
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/WTReefShark/WTReefShark.html

Reef sharks are listed as “near threatened” in the US, because of changes in their habitat. It doesn’t mean, however, that they are “near threatened” especially around Asia Pacific where they poses a threat to the ecology system of coral reefs.

Katijah,
You over-harvested petai in your backyard doesn’t mean it is endangered. It simply means you are greedy while others have plenty. Seriously, I have no interest to argue a case with someone who probably has no tradition to speak of. Who’s exotic food probably means nasi lemak, satay, sambal petai and pisang goreng.
You probably have higher risk of getting mercury poisoning from eating sushi than a bowl of sharkfin soup. http://nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/sushi.asp

Stop watching 5 years old national geographic programmes on astro. Watch silly WWF programmes instead. (world wrestling federation).