http://alvinlai.com/2006/07/01/seafood-night-part-2/ Thoughts on design, business, technology, simplicity, culture and more. Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:17:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://alvinlai.com/2006/07/01/seafood-night-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Susie Watts Sat, 01 Jul 2006 22:24:00 +0000 http://www.alvinlai.com/2007/02/18/seafood-night-part-2#comment-12 You may have enjoyed your shark fin soup, but did you know that, because so many people are now eating it, sharks are disappearing? Tens of millions are "finned" every year to make shark fin soup. They're hauled up on deck and have their fins sliced off while they thrash around in agony. Then they're thrown back into the water to die. The reason? Shark meat is low-value and not worth the freezer-space it takes up. Fins don't need to be frozen - they can be sun-dried on deck. A burgeoning middle-class in China has led to an unprecedented demand for shark fins which are, in fact, tasteless collagen that requires chicken or fish broth for flavour. Meanwhile, more and more species are added to the endangered list and hundreds of thousands of extremely poor coastal people in the developing world have lost their last remaining source of protein - shark meat. Not only that but, because sharks are apex predators, ecosystems are starting to show signs of distortion and some fishing operations have had to close down. In the absence of sharks, the shark's prey species proliferate and consume other species, often those that people depend on. The removal of sharks could eventually destroy ocean ecosystems. If you're interested, do take a peek at www.stopfinning.org. I know it sounds crazy but that innocent bowl of shark fin soup carries a price tag that we cannot begin to calculate! All the best, Susie You may have enjoyed your shark fin soup, but did you know that, because so many people are now eating it,
sharks are disappearing? Tens of millions are "finned" every year to make shark fin soup. They’re hauled up on deck and have their fins sliced off while they thrash around in agony. Then they’re thrown back into the water to die. The reason? Shark meat is low-value and not worth the freezer-space it takes up. Fins don’t need to be frozen – they can be sun-dried on deck. A burgeoning middle-class in China has led to an unprecedented demand for shark fins which are, in fact, tasteless collagen that requires chicken or fish broth for flavour. Meanwhile, more and more species are added to the endangered list and hundreds of thousands of extremely poor coastal people in the developing world have lost their last remaining source of protein – shark meat. Not only that but, because sharks are apex predators, ecosystems are starting to show signs of distortion and some fishing operations have had to close down. In the absence of sharks, the shark’s prey species proliferate and consume other species, often those that people depend on. The removal of sharks could eventually destroy ocean ecosystems. If you’re interested, do take a peek at http://www.stopfinning.org. I know it sounds crazy but that innocent bowl of shark fin soup carries a price tag that we cannot begin to calculate!
All the best,
Susie

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