NEARLY TWO tonnes of dried shark fins – from at least 100 sharks
caught at sea – found in the hold of a Taiwanese fishing vessel
in Cape Town harbour have shed light on a trade that is driving
the top hunter of the oceans towards extinction. The South
African permit for the Chien Jiu, whose 26 crew members are
being held pending trial, was for the acquisition of just 100
kilos of shark fin. Under international regulations, the Chien
Jiu’s skipper was also required by maritime officials to produce
the entire body of each shark from which fins were taken: he was
unable to do so. Given the scale of the Chien Jiu’s horde, the
Cape Town authorities said the vessel should legally have
produced 32 tonnes of whole shark. Only four tonnes were found.
The regulation was brought in to curb the widespread practice of
“finning.” Sharks are caught and hauled on board where crewmen
remove the gelatinous dorsal and other fins with hot metal
blades before sliding the finless fish back into the ocean
where, immobile and bleedi