My shark fin soup rant...

[Toad Patrol]

Hey Pete, try a bowl sometime just so you will know how tasteless and offensive sharkfin soup really is.  It's like thinking you would increase your sexual verility with a soup made from Wilt Chamberlains jock strap. Ummm, tasty.
But the notion of it as a"tonic" with curative powers has no scientific credability. It's another stupid ancient belief that needs to go. And it will eventually, once all the sharks are gone.
The industry of longlining shark, cutting off their fins and throwing them back to die is criminally barbaric. Like many other asian dietary/medical notions like consuming black bear gall bladders, dried male seahorses, and dozens of other animal products, have pushed to the brink of extinction many species. Some are already gone.
Can't these people just eat themselves? They got a recipe for everything else. That sounds pretty bigoted, but I decry all cultures wanton disregard and disrespect for the other creatures we share this rock with. It just that the Asians in particular have such a screwy relationship with the ocean. They depend on it for nourishment, yet squander it any chance they can. Global industrial commercial fishing is destroying our planet. Plain and simple. It must go the way of fur trapping and logging. Into history.
We humans have overrun this planet, pushing all other species out of our way. Run and hide or be consumed. The foolish sense of entitlement, that the whole world is ours to feed on, is defined by the biblical decree that Man has dominion over all creatures, kinda like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
When the bill comes, will we be able to afford it?
Peace and Love, you huckleberrys!
-Scott

[potto]

Genesis 1:26 Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Have dominion does not mean wipe into extinction, but have supreme authority over them.
Conservation is the way to go.  We can kill sharks as long as the population replenishes itself.

I guess Dennis really likes his Wilt Chamberlains jock strap soup.  Remind me not to smell his breath.

[JRD]

That's the most I have heard you say on a subject at one go.  But we gotta be careful with attacks on end users.  Yes they create the demand but its the supply side that needs to be controled.  We are on the outside of the end use, just as many of the tree huggers attacking our sport are on the outside.  It just seemed a pretty broad attack.  Just think how it looks on the outside to see a couple of sporties come in and clean out a structure spot that may take years to regrow, look what's happened with lobster since WE the sportsfishing industry didn't police ourselves well.  We are facing closures every day and yet still broadcast our catches even when they may be a bit excissive.  Yes I agree finning should be subject to the most horrendous penalties imaginable (shit they cane  you spitting gum on the streets of Singapore), there is alot of use for the remaining carcass.  But to attack eastern beliefs and medicine as just another way to ruin the invironment is a bit harsh.

Hmmm sorry for the counter rant, but it seemed a pretty harsh and broad statement.

JRD

[Spike]

Yeah Scotto,
That Eastern medicine thing ain't quite the stuff of carpet-baggers.   Words like "tonic" make as much sense to most westerners as "chi" and "chakras", the latter is Indian and I know little about it.  Words like heart, liver, blood, body fluids and gall bladder identify functions that were described long before microscopes, not the pathological organs and tissues we associate them with.  With a degree in Oriental medicine, I've drank a lot of weird stuff and shark fin soup can be good.  And arguably, good for you. 
A doctor/professor once told me that bear gall would be used in some febrile cases where patients unexpainably hit an ER and die within 24 hours.

FWIW, commercial sale of shark fin should be outlawed just like rhino horn and bear gall.

[Trout]

Now that I am pushing 40 (kind of) and can officially say that some of my memories are from the "glory days" I can tell you that each and every time I was with close friends and sufficiently innebriated... the "big conversation" around the campfire always ended up in deciding that our world was basically f'ed due to overpopulation. Seriously. Overpopulation. Every single time. All topics, theses, hypotheses, etc all ended up with the fact that the amount of people on earth are taking us down. That's not judgmental. Just factual. And that rolled into conversations about fisheries... and that eventually rolled into topics about stuff like this right here. If we were fortunate enough to share this planet with a small group of friends, then we could all catch and release and only catch what we eat and take a sharkfin here or there and make some grandiose soup of love blah blah blah utopian idealism. It'd be great if it were reality but it's not. Does shark fin soup taste good? Dunno. Never had it. But I guess it does. I'm a good f'in chef and I am proud to say I could make a wooden bannister from the stairs taste good if I basted it long enough and even more so if I fried it in rendered pork fat. The key element here is people. Lots of em. Sure I'd like to sample all of these potentially delicious meals made from unique parts... but if we all supported it... there'd be nothing left. Some more than others. Believe me, I've traveled the world and eaten pretty much every part of every animal in the book. But most of the weird $h!t was on the table not for the "verility" but because that was the only thing the locals had... or could afford. I am a big fan of the Asian culture, way of life, and food... and will not pass judgment in any way shape or form. But I will say - respect what we have been dealt and take in moderation across the board. I can easily see why the Native American Indians were so pissed at us when we shot down buffalo to strip them of their hides/fur... leaving the entire body, meat, food, life... to rot. Same with the shark. Geez, if you're gonna kill something, eat the WHOLE DAMN THING. Take it down. Mouth to tail... leave the gill plates and bones (and even then, you can make stock out of the bones). Then, if you eat something like the shark fin for whatever reason you please, at least you can say you didn't kill and waste. Soap box out. == Trout == PS - Toad Patrol, you need to come on this Mothership Trip this weekend. JJ is coming from Santa Monica... carpool... make it happen.

[Toad Patrol]

Hey Dennis, "tonic" makes a lot of sense to me. If "Gin and" are included. With an Irish background, my dietary philosphy follows a seven element theory. Thats a six pack and a boiled potato.
If I could just convince people of the curative medical properties or at least male enhancement in my brew of toenail clippings I'd be rich.
Randy, who do I need to be concerned I'm offending? Those bastards grinning on the deck of that giant longline ship? They're to busy killing everything to be concerned. Should I be worried how my harsh critisism of primitive beliefs, ( not just Eastern) that threaten the health and diversity of this planet look? Ha! Harsh attacks are my speciality. Greenpeach should wrap their props with chain and let them drift. Hope they go fish off Somalia, I hear there are lots of friendly natives there.
Trout, I'd love to fish this weekend with your guys, but my divorce settlement and alimony, and my daughters new car and insurance have tapped my fishing budget for a while. Good Luck you SOB's.
Sweet Dreams,
Scott

[jscott]

Found this on another site...

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/10/1s10outdoors222756-scuba-diver-helps-get-shark-fin/?zIndex=34931

Instead of "preaching to the choir" (I don't think there is a one of us that thinks that finning a shark and throwing the mutiliated, injured shark back into the water is OK)....this diver made a difference for a major event and has started to take it to the next level! 

Big props!   

[JRD]

Hey Scott, I was not talking about the guys finning and tossing carcasses, I was talking about the simple guys like you and I.  We all live in a bit of a bubble this way and I was just reminding you sometimes instead of attacking the guy eating the stuff we should direct our attacks on the ones over doing it and being wasteful and before you guys attack me for this lets see a show of hands on who eats chicken or beef?  Are they all free range?  Have you ever seen a chicken farm or beef farm?  Look at the damage they do to the environment and yet as a shopper you have no qualms about dipping into your local grocer.  How about the carbon foot print we all make in driving our fishing trucks to the beach.  I guess what it comes down to is I am always a bit shy about pointing a finger coz you never know when you are looking in a mirror.

Set the longliners and finners and whalers adrift in somalia its a good idea just be careful that the sporties and power boaters are next on your list and then god forbit the Hobie guys and you  or me next.  I guess if we really wanted to protect the planet we should just nuke the whole population, the green would come back soon enough.

Hmmm Counter Rant over,  how about some fishing Scotty???

Randy

[Spike]

Nice link Jason, Zieralski's a good reason to subscribe to The Tribune.  Great menu marketing strategy though.  Unfortunately in many other countries, I'll bet the streets are lined with ads for New Year's Shark Fin Specials.  Only education that bends the will of the public will change it.  There are better ways to nourish the body.

[greybeard]

Thanks to Scott for his analysis.  Too much cultural relativism is not a good thing.  The world changes.  People in all cultures have a responsibility to direct that change in a rational manner.  The wanton killing of sharks simply to SELL the fins is a vile commercial practice.  It is simply true that shark populations are suffering from many causes.  It is not rational to continue to exploit the fishery in that manner.  There are similar problems with other populations. It is quite customary for Central Americans to eat sea turtle eggs.  They taste wonderful.  But it should no longer be allowed to commercially exploit sea turtle eggs, however customary it may be to eat them.  Of course the kind of commercialization of fishing that is so harmful is not itself customary. I don't suppose there is anything wrong with eating sharkfin soup, IF YOU CATCH A SHARK.  But that is not what is at issue.  Thanks for the good link as well.

[greybeard]

Take action on banning finning at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/campaign