Environmental Issues

Home » China Hotel News » Shark fins going out of favor among young chinese-malays Posted on 2012-02-16 in China Hotel News For many centuries, shark fins are revered among Chinese globally as a delicacy fit for emperors and noblemen. As the fins are expensive, the Chinese saying “to be able to eat rice with shark fins” symbolizes one’s wealth and prosperity. But the delicacy is appearing on fewer menus in places like Kuala Lumpur. The...Read Full Story

Shark conservation continues to make progress and continues to run up against serious challenges simultaneously. It's a long road that will need to be traveled to reach the ultimate goal of seeing decimated populations of iconic shark species begin to return to some level of normalcy, but it's a trip worth taking. One of the biggest challenges the movement faces is demand for shark products, particularly shark fins . The shark fin market is centered in Asia where a long cultural history...Read Full Story

KARACHI:Fishermen killed and transported an 11-meter long whale shark, weighing in at 22 tons, to the Karachi Fish Harbour from the open seas. Although they paid Rs50,000 alone to lift and transport the carcass of this endangered sea mammal, they were only able to sell it for Rs170,000 as fish trash. The crew of the small fishing boat, Al-Hafeez, spotted the sea giant near Ghora Bari in the Arabian sea. Experts believe that the crew fed the animal diesel or fresh water to kill it, and then...Read Full Story

While a lot has been known about whale sharks in general, information on the young ones of this species continues to be a mystery for mankind. Other than the relatively rare nature of juvenile whale sharks, our limited knowledge about them can be attributed to the lack of data on reproduction in this species. As of today, only one pregnant female whale shark has been caught in the wild and studied, and most of the information on the reproduction in this species that we have can be attributed...Read Full Story

by Caitlyn Obolsky, Esq. The Asian American Rights Committee of California filed  suit  against the state of California last month, seeking an injunction and declaratory judgment invalidating the state’s new Shark Fin ban . The law generally makes it a crime for any person to possess without a permit (which is generally only available for educational or scientific purposes), or to sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute, a shark fin. It does have a window of exception...Read Full Story

Isolated from other beluga populations, Cook Inlet beluga whales are particularly vulnerable to population loss. January brought some disappointing news for Cook Inlet belugas when scientists from NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center announced the  2011 estimate for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population . The estimate numbered only 284 animals, almost 20 percent lower than last year’s estimate of 340 whales. The number is the second-lowest since NOAA’s surveys began in 1993...Read Full Story

SAINT LOUIS, Senegal: Retired fisherman Sada Fall is upbeat. His two sons are returning from sea with a boatload of “gold”, as he calls shark fins, whose value has near-obliterated the ocean’s top predator in these seas. Fall, 62, walks along the beach in this fishing village in the north of Senegal, his blue-grey boubou flapping in the dry, dusty wind, a bright red flowered umbrella shielding him from the scorching sun. “This is the great shark cemetery,” he says waving his hand dramatically...Read Full Story