Shark-fin traders thrive in UAE

Shark-fin traders thrive in UAE
UAE - APR. 09, daijiworld.com

Gourmands like them in soup, doctors prescribe them as cures and dealers trade them to get rich. That is why fishermen continue to flout the law and indiscriminately kill, maim and then discard as many sharks as they can catch. The fins are almost as good as gold.

In the UAE, where shark finning is illegal, traders nonetheless are increasingly exploiting the eastern and northern coasts of the country because of the lack of policing and local regulations, marine agencies have warned.

They say shark finning in this region has increased over the past decade because of the insatiable Far Eastern demand for the fins, improved fishing technology and traders looking for a profit. One pound of shark fins has a street value of US$300 (Dh1,100).

According to the last report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, in 2004, the UAE counts for around eight per cent of global shark fin exports.

“There were six to seven boats at around 4.40pm hauling sharks off,” said Daniel Hawkings, a South African diver who spends every weekend in the northern and eastern emirates. “By the end, the beach was covered with the sharks who were hauled off one by one to be finned.”

It takes only low levels of finning over extended periods to get rid of the majority of reef-associated species, as well as the larger, longer-lived varieties.