Where Does YOUR Shark Fin Come From?

Kudos to Pew.

A long time ago we suggested that to really understand the global shark fin industry you needed something like a map - we said this in way back in 2009.

Well here's a map, in fact it's more of a global template, and it's the key to saving sharks.

Take a good look because THIS is shark Conservation 101. This is the template for ever single shark fin campaign from 2012 onward. A way of knowing in real time where to focus resources, time, and energy for those who actually understand the salient fact that to be successful with shark conservation we need to "identify and target," not "raise awareness and fluff."

Cannot help but be impressed with work like this coming from Pew.

Then again when have we ever not been impressed with the work for sharks coming out of Pew?

More from Da Shark with some insider scoop.

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Online Sales of Shark Fin? - You Bet

Wolfgang in the Bahamas. Amanda Cotton amazing shot

Back in the day a loosely knit group pre-shark activists took to the Internet to demand that Alibaba.com stop selling shark fin online.

Lead by the irascible and wizened shark sage Wolfgang Leander, and worked on by a host of others, Alibaba.com eventually caved and stopped selling shark fin.

A victory?

You could say so. It was really that first corporate turnabout and a movie that appeared shortly after which started the shark conservation movement as we know it today with a plethora of shark groups, agendas, and some real wins to celebrate five years later.

But the story of online sales has not ended. Like a water balloon, in the corporate world if you squeeze a market on one side it bulges out the other, and where shark fin is concerned at $300-500 a kilo, that marketplace is still thriving.

Or so says Mark Harding who highlighted Rich Clothier from Shark Guardians this week.

We have to agree. Over a year ago we posted this finding online to mostly dead air from the shark conservation community working on consumption side economics of the shark fin equation.

But sales online continue, they may not be called shark fin anymore, fish maw, fish bones, and other names have changed the way traders seek buyers. In fact 90% of the sellers who sell dried seafood products still, when asked, will provide and source shark fin.

How do we know?

We have been involved with this since 2007. It's not hard to track online portals, pose as a buyer, and ask for shark fin. The results are immediate and abundant to the tune of several thousand kilos per transaction and sometimes even more.

Are there solutions to this problem? You bet.

But the problem has become a 'wider problem' if you want to harness the conservation bandwidth out there to make a dent in the trade. Right now that doesn't seem to be the case.

Claudia Li Nominated for GLOBE Award!

Congratulations Claudia Lee!

Well deserved congratulations to Claudia Li and the entire conservation crew behind the Vancouver non-profit organization Shark Truth this week.

As one of the many grassroots shark conservation groups that sprang up in late 2009 Shark Truth lead the way as an Asian community initiative to stop the slaughter of sharks used for shark fin soup.

Their leadership, branding, messaging and overall community impact has been nothing short of amazing to watch.

If conservation effectiveness had a face it would be Shark Truth and we along with the rest of the conservation community thrilled to hear they have been nominated for a prestigious GLOBE Foundation award.

Take some time to reintroduce yourself with Shark Truth because this is about as good as it gets.

Full story here.

Is The Shark Fin Ban Culturally Biased?

Take action now!

RTSea Blog covered Juliet Eilperin's response in the Washington Post this week to the pro-shark fin lobby, and we have to agree, this is great stuff.

Juliet knows what she is talking about and delivers her response with calm cool facts.

Cultural bias in the shark fin debate?

We think not, but racist comments that frame perceptions to this debate, absolutely so, with nasty examples all over the Internet that go unchallenged on a daily basis.

For example the Huff Post this week featured a blog on increased protections for sharks in Florida.

This was the third comment on that posts thread. It has since been removed at our request, but requests like ours are few and far between when it comes to monitoring the oppositions perception of the anti-shark fin lobby:

"There are people who catch sharks, cut off their fins and throw them back in the ocean to die on the bottom, unable to move. They sell the fins for soup and souvenirs. These people are barbarians. They are the same kind of people who run dog fights, cock fights, and are basically sociopaths. If we shot them on sight it would be a better world." 

We are tired of the response we are getting from shark conservation leadership groups who do nothing to disavow these dark, racist, comments on the net. Each and every one should be accompanied by a leadership group response disavowing ignorance, hatred, and redefining what the shark fin movement is all about.


The idea that these comments have "nothing to do" with the groups who are pushing for shark fin bans is working to the pro-shark fin lobbies benefit. Like it or not it is these folks who also sign petitions, they post on Facebook, they are the movements base.


These comments became so toxic in the recent Toronto effort to go fin free that a mysterious group appeared and threatened to poison Chinese and Asian communities all over the city.


A golden opportunity was wasted by leadership groups to get out ahead of this issue who instead stood by and said nothing. Lack of action on that issue and others have provided the opposition with talking points that will resonate on for years. 

As RTSea has aptly pointed out: 

"we should not expect the opposition to simply throw in the towel. On the contrary, they will put up one heck of a fight and it will be based on half truths, blatant misrepresentations, and diversions" 

Including three years of unchallenged comment threads and dark groups with agendas that have nothing to do with saving sharks.

The thing about racism, if you are unwilling to take a stand at the start, those who fill the vacuum you leave behind drag you down into their dark world by inaction.


If you still do not think there's a problem out there take a good look around, perhaps the problem starts with you because as far as those who are being paid to promote shark fin and counter our efforts - you don't appear to be any different.

Food for thought.