A taste for soup threatens sharks

NAMIBIA’S tourism image could suffer irreparable damage internationally if a proposed shark fin drying plant outside Walvis Bay is allowed to go ahead.

The highly lucrative shark fin trade could further open up the coastal area to criminal elements as has happened in South Africa where power struggles in the ‘Chinese Mafia’ resulted in cold-blooded killings, kidnapping and organised crime. Local and international opposition groups have already voiced their concern over this proposal, while a petition is being circulated to stop the plant from opening.The worldwide status of sharks has sparked growing international debate and has intensified conservationists’ concerns for sharks with the escalation of the shark finning business over recent years.The shark fin industry is described as the new “big business” of the underworld in the face of an increasing demand for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy which sells for around US$100 a bowl.Shark fins reach up to US$400/kg.The business has become so lucrative that fishermen started to fin live sharks and leave them to bleed to death in the ocean.This deplorable practice has caused an outcry against the industry.The finning of live sharks is not allowed in Namibian waters:regulations prohibit the dumping of any marine resource harvested.”I am completely against a shark fin plant,” said Dr Hannes Holtzhausen, the large pelagic sector fisheries biologist at the National Marine Information and Research Centre (Natmirc) at Swakopmund.He told The Namibian that very little data was available on shark populations in Namibian waters as exploratory rights had only been given to two fishing companies in 1999.”It is still a very new field to us as we have never done any work with sharks before.It is not yet known if the resource will be able to sustain such an industry.”Holtzhausen’s concern is that if the first plant proved successful, the business would escalate uncontrollably.”It would attract criminal elements who would only target sharks.”According to newspaper reports in South Africa, the battle to control this lucrative business in Cape Town has resulted in numerous murders as rivals struggle to maintain control.According to Holtzhausen, who is a member of the Shark Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (ICUN), such a practice in Namibia would also result in an overnight decline in recreational sport anglers visiting the country.This concern was underlined by a tourism operator who specialises in bringing angling tourists to Namibia.SJ McGuire wrote in a letter to the local coastal newspaper that more than N$15 million a year could be lost.He said Namibia had developed an international reputation for its Bronze Whaler sharks, as it was the only country in the world where anglers could catch this species from the beach.”The Skeleton Coast is unique in world angling, but this will disappear overnight if the Bronze Whaler shark is allowed to be hunted for its fins,” McGuire wrote.In November, the Municipality of Walvis Bay approved an application by a Chinese businessman for the lease of one ha of land about 2,5 km south-east of the town.Concerns were raised and international conservation bodies notified when a notice was placed in the local paper in January asking for objections to the intended transaction.Augustinus Victor, General Manager Community and Economic Development at the Walvis Bay Municipality, confirmed to The Namibian that he had received more than 10 objections, including from overseas.”They were all aimed against the shark fin business.”He said the purpose of the notice was to find out if anyone was opposed to the location of the site.He said the business could not be stopped as no valid objection had been received so far.However, Victor, said information on where the fins come from would be included in the recommendation to council for final approval.The applicant, Jacky Zheng of Microzone International, said he had been buying shark fins from local factories.He also planned to buy fins from foreign vessels as “many of them catch sharks”.Zheng did not give any indication on how much he planned to export to Asia to be used in shark fin soup.”It depends how much I can buy,” he said.Namibia has developed a Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, which came into force on March 3.The plan is based on the United Nations Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks.In terms of the plan, two companies were granted two-year exploratory rights to target deep-water shark species.In the late 1990s, tuna pole-and-line and tuna longline right holders received permission to target tuna and other large pelagic species, including large pelagic sharks.According to the landings of four fishing boats for 2002, it is clear that sharks are becoming increasingly targeted as five times or 500 per cent more sharks were landed than all their tuna and swordfish catches combined.Holtzhausen said the Rand-US dollar exchange was forcing companies to target new species to find additional income.Shark species, once ignored by commercial fishermen, have become more desirable as other fish species disappear due to over-fishing.The main concern over shark fishing is that sharks reproduce very slowly.As a result, stocks are slow to rebound once their populations have been diminished.According to the Namibian shark plan, “the transformation of exploratory rights into regular long-term fishing rights will be treated with the utmost precaution.The Ministry recognises sharks as a potential commercially exploitable resource and their vulnerability to overexploitation.”A national plan of action for the conservation and management of sharks includes specific actions on data collection, research, management measures, shared stock management and capacity building.Shark fin, known in China as yu chi or “fish wing”, has been a delicacy consumed since at least the start of the Sung dynasty in 960 AD The fin basically consists of cartilage, which, without the addition of chicken or fish stock, is said to be a bland broth.People compare it to eating boiled fingernails.In the past, it was only the wealthy Chinese elite who could afford to eat this extravagant dish.Today, with a rapidly growing middle-class, this status food is sought after by hundreds of millions of people.The demand for the delicacy is at an all-time high, according to various Internet articles on the topic.Local and international opposition groups have already voiced their concern over this proposal, while a petition is being circulated to stop the plant from opening.The worldwide status of sharks has sparked growing international debate and has intensified conservationists’ concerns for sharks with the escalation of the shark finning business over recent years.The shark fin industry is described as the new “big business” of the underworld in the face of an increasing demand for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy which sells for around US$100 a bowl.Shark fins reach up to US$400/kg.The business has become so lucrative that fishermen started to fin live sharks and leave them to bleed to death in the ocean.This deplorable practice has caused an outcry against the industry.The finning of live sharks is not allowed in Namibian waters:regulations prohibit the dumping of any marine resource harvested.”I am completely against a shark fin plant,” said Dr Hannes Holtzhausen, the large pelagic sector fisheries biologist at the National Marine Information and Research Centre (Natmirc) at Swakopmund.He told The Namibian that very little data was available on shark populations in Namibian waters as exploratory rights had only been given to two fishing companies in 1999.”It is still a very new field to us as we have never done any work with sharks before.It is not yet known if the resource will be able to sustain such an industry.”Holtzhausen’s concern is that if the first plant proved successful, the business would escalate uncontrollably.”It would attract criminal elements who would only target sharks.”According to newspaper reports in
South Africa, the battle to control this lucrative business in Cape Town has resulted in numerous murders as rivals struggle to maintain control.According to Holtzhausen, who is a member of the Shark Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (ICUN), such a practice in Namibia would also result in an overnight decline in recreational sport anglers visiting the country.This concern was underlined by a tourism operator who specialises in bringing angling tourists to Namibia.SJ McGuire wrote in a letter to the local coastal newspaper that more than N$15 million a year could be lost.He said Namibia had developed an international reputation for its Bronze Whaler sharks, as it was the only country in the world where anglers could catch this species from the beach.”The Skeleton Coast is unique in world angling, but this will disappear overnight if the Bronze Whaler shark is allowed to be hunted for its fins,” McGuire wrote.In November, the Municipality of Walvis Bay approved an application by a Chinese businessman for the lease of one ha of land about 2,5 km south-east of the town.Concerns were raised and international conservation bodies notified when a notice was placed in the local paper in January asking for objections to the intended transaction.Augustinus Victor, General Manager Community and Economic Development at the Walvis Bay Municipality, confirmed to The Namibian that he had received more than 10 objections, including from overseas.”They were all aimed against the shark fin business.”He said the purpose of the notice was to find out if anyone was opposed to the location of the site.He said the business could not be stopped as no valid objection had been received so far.However, Victor, said information on where the fins come from would be included in the recommendation to council for final approval.The applicant, Jacky Zheng of Microzone International, said he had been buying shark fins from local factories.He also planned to buy fins from foreign vessels as “many of them catch sharks”.Zheng did not give any indication on how much he planned to export to Asia to be used in shark fin soup.”It depends how much I can buy,” he said.Namibia has developed a Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, which came into force on March 3.The plan is based on the United Nations Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks.In terms of the plan, two companies were granted two-year exploratory rights to target deep-water shark species.In the late 1990s, tuna pole-and-line and tuna longline right holders received permission to target tuna and other large pelagic species, including large pelagic sharks.According to the landings of four fishing boats for 2002, it is clear that sharks are becoming increasingly targeted as five times or 500 per cent more sharks were landed than all their tuna and swordfish catches combined.Holtzhausen said the Rand-US dollar exchange was forcing companies to target new species to find additional income.Shark species, once ignored by commercial fishermen, have become more desirable as other fish species disappear due to over-fishing.The main concern over shark fishing is that sharks reproduce very slowly.As a result, stocks are slow to rebound once their populations have been diminished.According to the Namibian shark plan, “the transformation of exploratory rights into regular long-term fishing rights will be treated with the utmost precaution.The Ministry recognises sharks as a potential commercially exploitable resource and their vulnerability to overexploitation.”A national plan of action for the conservation and management of sharks includes specific actions on data collection, research, management measures, shared stock management and capacity building.Shark fin, known in China as yu chi or “fish wing”, has been a delicacy consumed since at least the start of the Sung dynasty in 960 AD The fin basically consists of cartilage, which, without the addition of chicken or fish stock, is said to be a bland broth.People compare it to eating boiled fingernails.In the past, it was only the wealthy Chinese elite who could afford to eat this extravagant dish.Today, with a rapidly growing middle-class, this status food is sought after by hundreds of millions of people.The demand for the delicacy is at an all-time high, according to various Internet articles on the topic.