SLICING off sharks鈥� dorsal fins for soup and throwing the rest back could be
banned under a hard-won agreement reached in Rome last week at the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Seventy countries, including Japan and Korea鈥攚hich initially opposed
the plan鈥攁greed to end the practice of 鈥渇inning鈥� sharks caught
accidentally in shrimp or tuna nets.
At least a third of all sharks caught are trapped in nets cast for other
species. Shrimp boats have no trouble keeping a few small, valuable fins along
with their main catch. In future, the agreement says they must keep the entire
carcass. The hope is that boats will then take fewer sharks as they will run out
of room to store them. The plan is expected to get final approval by FAO member
states in February.
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Conservationists say the deal is important because shark populations are
declining worldwide and are easily hit by unregulated fishing. Yet shark
fisheries are regulated in only eight countries. Catches jumped from 272 000
tonnes in 1950 to 760 000 tonnes in 1996, but little is known about the species
or numbers caught.