Yesterday morning here in Japan - January 23rd - I witnessed something sad besides all of the fish lives caught of course. I seen this baby shark which I believe is a Blue Shark. It is beside a much larger one to show the comparison of what its future held for growth. This species is a pelagic one meaning you have to go far out into the ocean to catch it. Now I am not sure what the method of catching this shark was since the docks held more of yellow fin tuna but I can say is that from the three days I have visited this port I have probably witnessed about 30 sharks landed.
They seem to have the shark gutted and its head chopped off prior to offloading them. They probably do this to lessen the weight on the ship itself and helps prepare for auction on the arrival at port. Why I have focused on the sharks is because no one else is and the decline is astronomical! About 70 to 100 million sharks are decimated yearly from longlines to by-catch and 80% of this is for shark fin soup alone. Looking at this one port and how much fish and sharks they bring in - then times that by million other ports that do the same and you have a lot of dead sharks and other fish constantly.
I will be heading there again today all the way up to when I leave Japan to keep an eye on their days catch.
They just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteso admire what you are doing over there....all of us who can only sign petitions are happy someone so close to home is making a difference...keep up the great work
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing what you do! With you in Spirit!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, let me say thank you for sharing this with the world! This is exactly the kind of stuff that is needed. Great work! I am truly glad that someone over there not only cares about the dolphins, but also the magnificent sharks and other fish of our oceans!
ReplyDeleteShark finning is an abominable act and truly disgusting. For all of the shark carcasses you've actually photographed here, I am most certain that there were dozens---maybe even hundreds--- more that had their fins hacked off and where thrown back in the water to die. People are not fully aware of just how much Japan is involved in the shark fin industry too, so I applaud your efforts here.
Usually they behead and gut the shark at sea to prevent the build up of gases and other naturally existing elements in the body from spoiling the meat. Smooth dogfish fishermen in North Carolina demanded a loophole in the recently signed US Shark Conservation Act, claiming they simply MUST fin hese smooth dogfish at sea to prevent the meat from spoiling. However, a grad student from Duke was able to show in a simple experiment that their claims were unfounded. The fishermen claimed the sharks must be processed (i.e. finned) at sea, but the student was able to show that gutting the fish was the key to preventing spoilage----NOT finning! In fact the fins likely have nothing to do with spoilage at all!
Anyway, sorry for the rant... please keep us updated on the shark situation at your location in Japan! THANKS! Also, this website www.bushwarriors.org does shark stories every Wednesday, if you're interested. They have great articles there about shark finning and shark conservation!