RACHEL VICKERSTAFF: “Our objectives today really are to get some public awareness of what we’re trying to do and to let C.Y. (, C.Y. Leung – the new head of the Hong Kong government) know if he needs to see why sharks need saving.”
Sharks do receive some protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES. But Rachel Vickerstaff says the agreement must be strengthened.
RACHEL VICKERSTAFF: “The Hong Kong government has hidden behind CITES, which is pretty ineffective. CITES only has international trade restrictions on three species of sharks. But the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the IUCN, lists well over a hundred species of sharks as already threatened or near threatened with extinction.”
BOB DOUGHTY: Shark fin is served in soups at business and social gatherings as a sign of social standing. A bowl of shark fin soup can cost more than one hundred dollars. The dorsal fin of a whale shark can sell for up to twenty-thousand dollars. As China’s economy grows, more and more Chinese are serving shark fin soup as a sign to show their increasing wealth. The World Wildlife Fund says China’s economic success has caused the trade in shark fins to grow about five percent a year. The group says “serving shark fin soup may be a sign of wealth, but it comes at a price that our oceans cannot afford.”
Wildlife activists say the overfishing of sharks has a bad effect on the ocean environment. But they say there is some good news. Younger generations in China are increasingly unwilling to eat shark fin.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25