Fiji Shark Fin Hub in the Crosshairs

Thanks to Mike aka Da Shark in Fiji for the heads up and this weeks great news about shark fin hubs.

As it turns out shark fins are harvested all over the Pacific region and transshipped to Fiji for sorting, packing, and shipment to China.

It's big business, to the tune of 100 metric tons a year. As Mike points out "that's a whole lotta sharks".

Naturally PEW and the Coral Alliance are behind this latest effort to curb the shark fin trade.

Kudos.

Smart Shark Conservation - Great Media

One of the smarter ideas for shark conservation can be found with the folks behind Shark Truth.

Claudia Li and Vivian Kwong decided to tackle the cultural and gastronomic issue of shark fin soup "one bowl at a time" with an informative website targeting wedding couples who decline shark fin soup at celebrations.

This is change from within a culture, and this duo should be congratulated for what inevitably is a tough uphill battle.

That battle recently got a boost with some very good media last week.

Congratulations to both for the website and the initiative!

CNN Tackles Shark Use - Kudos

Today CNN tackled the harsh realities of traditional medicine use around the globe. It's an interesting take on sharks fin and cartilage use that often gets sidelined when talking sharks.

80% of Africa and Asia still uses traditional medicine as a first line cure for regional illness. While the earths population is hovering around 6,768,167,712 that's a massive demand for all raw use animal products, not just sharks:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Alternative treatments are as varied as the regions of the world they come from. And while they attract skepticism from some Western medical practitioners, they are an undeniable part of global health.

In parts of Asia and Africa, 80 percent of the population depend on these treatments as their primary form of healthcare.

Shark fin has long been used in traditional Asian medicine. Shark fin soup is regarded as a tonic that promotes general well-being, and shark fin has even been claimed to have anti-cancer properties. Shark fins are mainly composed of cartilage, a type of connective tissue found in the skeletal systems of many animals.

In Japan, they are sold by herbalists as a powder, in tablet form or as whole fins. While shark fin has been used for centuries in Asia, in recent years it has become more popular in the West.

A book called "Sharks Don't Get Cancer," published in 1992, popularized the idea of shark fin as an alternative cancer treatment in the West, and powdered shark fin is now sold as dietary supplement.

Full Story

Shark Conservation Message - You Tube

For a few weeks now we have been wondering a loud where all the smart, edgy, pro-shark conservation messages are on You Tube.

Funny thing about You Tube, most often the things you wish for magically appear. Riffing off the runaway viral hit of "Woman in airport" Doc Martin HK has produced "Woman wants shark fin soup". Since it's launch in February of this year it has been seen by 350,000 and by all accounts this video will see a million viewers in the next 6 months.

Welcome to organic pro-shark messaging, where the message is everything. Kudos: