Shark Fin Du Jour-Sponsored by Yahoo! Inc

Our weekly feature on Underwater Thrills:Swimming With Sharks is the "Shark Fin Du Jour".

It's a weekly look at Alibaba.com the NYSE of Shark Fin Products and sales on the Internet-Sponsored by Yahoo! Inc.

We will take you to the individual sellers listed on that site and introduce the top companies, what species they sell, and how many thousands of pounds of shark fins they have for sale on the global market.

Today our Shark Fin Du Jour is UMS Enterprises who can source a staggering 500 kilograms of sharks fin per week:

Place of origin:	Pakistan
Model No:	SF 1173
Fob Price:	US$ 30~180 Karachi (Air/Port)
Port:	Karachi (Air/Port)
Payment Terms:	L/C
Minimum Order Quantity:	500 Kilogram
Supply Ability:	500 Kilogram per Week
Package:	15kg - 30kg Polypropylene Bags
Delivery Time:	Minimum 10 Working Days

Stinkin' Dead Shark Award August 2008

At the end of this month we would like to present the SDS Award to those within the global community whose abjectly abhorrent behavior towards sharks and sustainable fisheries or shark conservation warrants a big black eye.

Translation-your treatment of sharks sucks!

This months award winner is:

Yahoo! Inc for continued support and investment in Alibaba.com and a one billion dollar shark fin portal that allows fishermen from all over the planet to pillage sharks just for their fins...and then hiding behind a press release that calls this issue a "Cultural Practices Issue".

Google Bans Shark Finning Ads

From the guys over at A Couple Dives this mornings blog post and simply stunning news. For search giant Google to take on such a critical issue opens the doors to others within the search industry-namely Yahoo! who have not only allowed fining ads on their sites but have directly invested in shark fining to the tune of a billion dollars via Alibaba.com.


Google is following suit as the world takes a stand against the brutal practice of shark finning.

Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark's fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. Finning is illegal in America (and elsewhere) but the ban is difficult to enforce. Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%. Just a few months ago, the United States fisheries service ruled that fishermen must bring their shark catches to shore with fins still attached.

And now, since July, Google AdWords has taken the next step forward in ending this cruel practice by implementing a new policy regarding endangered or threatened species, including sharks. Google's advertising platform will no longer promote products obtained from endangered or threatened species. This includes, but is not limited to, the sale of products derived from elephants, sharks, tigers, whales, rhinoceroses, or dolphins.

The new policy comes after Coral Cay Conservation and supporter John Nunes from California wrote to Google urging them to change their policy on accepting paid advertising from shark fin product manufacturers.

Yahoo! and Alibaba.com continue to be the worlds largest online source for illegal shark products, who continue to enable the sales of thousands of tons of dried shark fin each and every month.

Hopefully this move by Google will force the hand of other companies such as Yahoo! and put an end to this barbaric practice.With a squelching of the demand for such products, fishermen will no longer profit from their sale and this kind of slaughter will be rendered obsolete.

Do you think Google should be doing more to lead the way in ending the cruel practice of shark finning? Should more action be taken against companies such as Yahoo! that condone such acts? Let us know in the comments! And make sure to check out Shark In The Pool!.