Hey Guys/Gals

So After My latest Post I got a comment from @trev

Pangolins are so cool, reminds me of the terrible practice of shark finning.

Which got my writing juices flowing and i decided to write a post about the horrid trade of Shark Fins.

Shark Fin Soup is a delicacy

Shark fin soup (or shark's fin soup) is a traditional soup or stewed item of Chinese cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine served at special occasions such as weddings and banquets, or as a luxury item in Chinese culture. The shark fins provide texture, while the taste comes from the other soup ingredients. The soup originated centuries ago during the Ming Dynasty. Demand for the soup has increased as income levels of Chinese communities worldwide have risen. International concerns over the sustainability and welfare of sharks have impacted consumption and availability of the soup.

Great so whats so wrong about this? We kill animals for food all the time

WRONG, The way these sharks are killed, and numbers are just unacceptable.

The shark itself is not worth that much but the fins are, so the way the fins are harvested is that a shark is caught. They Reel the shark to the boat and remove the valuable Fins and then release the shark back into the ocean. The shark cannot swim of course as it has no fins so it sinks all the way to the bottom of the sea and drowns.

Below is an image of the fins that are removes.

This is barbaric, there needs to be rules and regulations of Shark finning.

Not only are they killed in a barbaric way but the amount that is killed each year is not sustainable.

To give you an understanding

Image Source

Sharks kill around 5 people annually.

researchers estimated that approximately 100 million sharks are killed per year by humans. However, they add that this is a conservative estimate, and the true number could be as high as 273 million sharks killed annually by humans.

This might be difficult to understand how many that is so marketing wizard Joe Chernov teamed up with Ripetungi to produce this infographic that compares shark deaths from humans with human deaths from shark attacks.

Image source

There is at least some work being done on combating these horendous acts.

Famous Basketball star Yao Ming ( you might know him from his meme)

Has joined the fight with an incredible company called Wildaid that are trying to tackle the problem at the heart of the problem - The Consumers. Their tag line

If the buying stops, The killing can too.

Below is a video of this legend and wild aid against shark finning.

Creating awareness of these things is another way of stopping such monstrosities. If you cannot donate or help with money, spread the word. Tell people - Word of mouth spreads at an alarmingly fast rate.

Stand up for what belongs to our oceans. These majestic sea creatures could be extinct in a matter of years if we keep on harvesting their fins as we are.

Follow me @warrensteem for more exciting posts.

Sources :
http://wildaid.org/sharks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup
https://za.pinterest.com/pin/422634746254435064/
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/how-many-sharks-do-humans-kill-hour/