LONDON (AFP) - China's booming
middle class is fuelling demand for shark fins for soup, experts
said Wednesday, as they called on the
European Union to halt the fall in dwindling stocks.
The study, by Washington-based research group the Lenfest Ocean
Program with backing from the Shark Alliance, a coalition of some
30 conservation groups, calls on the EU to end "finning" in its
waters.
"Finning" is when fishermen catch sharks and cut off their fins
before throwing the carcasses back into the sea, leaving space on
their boats for more valuable catches.
Researchers say that whole carcasses should be brought back to port
before fins are chopped off to allow officials to get an accurate
picture of how many sharks are being killed.
Quotas could then be set to help protect the 30 percent of shark
species in European waters which are threatened with extinction,
they add.
Sarah Fowler, co-chairman of the IUCN World Conservation Union
Shark Specialist Group and one of the report's lead authors, told a
press conference that China was the biggest market for shark fins
from Europe.
"The middle class in China is becoming wealthier and they're
spending more money and shark fin is the ultimate luxury -- it's
something you have to have at your wedding, your banquet, your
business dinner," she said.
"The demand is enormous and it's growing at about five percent a
year."
Sonja Fordham, policy director for the Shark Alliance, added that
the EU was key in determining not only what happened to sharks in
its own waters but also because of its "strong influence" on
nations around the world.
"Finning bans alone will not safeguard sharks from depletion," she
told reporters.
"We need to have an overall management plan that includes limits on
the catch of sharks."
