Friday, April 13, 2012

Shark's fin Import increased in South Korea

More sharks are by-caught

According to the NFRDI
(National Fisheries Research and Development Institute) report, Korean oversea's fisheries, especially tuna fishing vessels, are getting more and more criticism because of IUU fishing, including by-catch of shark's fin. NFRDI has observed that 20% of total catch was sharks on tuna fishing vessels in 2006; 413 sharks were killed after cutting their fins off.

And shark's fin import has also increased for the last 5 years from 1,922 tons in 2007 to 6,387 tons in 2011.(see right, source: MIFAFF)

Most of them are reported to be imported from Hongkong and consumed at hotel restaurants and seafood restaurants in South Korea.

Why Koreans enjoy more shark's fins?

One of the reason is related to the seafood price. Korean restaurant business decide what to import according to the international seafood price.

It is important to ban illegal fishing and by-catch of endangered species such as sharks.

What is Save Our Sea Project



Save Our Sea is a non-governmental campaign to protect Korean sea from illegal ocean dumping and also is cooperating with NGOs, local & international, to save our Mother Sea. And our actions are going on for the conservation of the wildlife and its ecosystem.
"Whales & Dolphins are not for food, they are frineds in need of our guardianship!"

All posts and photos of this blog are recommended to be re-posted, re-produced, cited, and used for non-commercial distribution of all kinds, with reference to the author.

by KFEM Ocean Committee (contact: bada@kfem.or.kr)