Taste for fins lands diners in the soup

Tag : Shark Fin



Asked about mercury poisoning, Compagno said they hoped to doresearch into great white sharks relative not only to mercury, butother heavy metals, and organic contaminants.

"But we will be focusing only on the effect of pollutants onsharks, not the effect on humans who consume shark meat," saidCompagno, pointing out that the bigger and older the shark, themore chance there was of its having ingested large amounts ofcontaminants.

Sharks were often by-catches in tuna and other fishing, he said.

"It also depends on the market as to whether you can flog sharkfins, but they are certainly extra moneymakers in other fishingactivities," Compagno said.

While Cobb said international conservationists had told him theRussian mafia was using a shark fin factory in Namibia to processthe catch by Spanish trawlers, Dr Hannes Holtzhausen, principalfisheries biologist with the Namibian Department of Fisheries andMarine Resources in Swakopmund, said in terms of Namibian law nodrying facilities were allowed in any municipal area.

"We have, however, had a large pelagic shark fishing industry overthe past seven years," he said, explaining that sharks were caughtalong with tuna and swordfish.

He said the major fishers were the Spanish, though South Africancharters, too, entered Namibian waters. Holtzhausen said no limithad been set on the number of sharks caught.

He was not authorised to give catch statistics, but said it wasmainly blue shark and shortfin mako fished in Namibian waters.

He pointed out that South Africa was equally guilty of sharkcatches.

Much has been made of South Africa's Marine Coastal Management'sVessels Monitoring System, in terms of which the country will beable to keep a close watch on ships within its Exclusive EconomicZone.

Ultimately, fishing vessels operating in South African waters willall be required to have a transponder on board - which will enabletheir position to be monitored 24 hours a day. By making use ofthis facility, it is hoped the country will be able to keep tabs onup to 500 ships in the EEZ at any given hour.

Longliners

Cobb, however, doubts its effectiveness, saying some ships willsimply switch off their transponders and illegitimate fishermenwill still continue to plunder South Africa's waters.

The fact that the South African Navy has no presence along the EastCoast, he believes, means this potential deterrent has beenremoved.

"Longliners operate freely off KwaZulu-Natal and the Transkei,"said Cobb.

He believes the Protection and Security Services division of theSouth African Police Service has just two small ocean-going patrolboats: one at Richards Bay and a catamaran in Durban.

"If the South African Navy handed over the Durban-based mobileradar station to this division they could spot longliners andillegal trawlers along the Transkei coastline."

Capt Dennis Adriao, police spokesperson for Durban harbour and allports of entry, said to divulge statistical information could playinto the hands of illegal operators. With regard to the use ofequipment, he said, "The police and navy already work hand in handand they, as well as customs, share government equipment."

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is mandated by the Department ofEnvironmental Affairs' Marine Coastal Management to patrol theKwaZulu-Natal coast.

According to George Nair, Ezemvelo's Conservation Manager inDurban, sterling work is done by four rubber ducks based at pointsbetween Ballito and Mpenjati on the South Coast; a fibre glassboat, patrol vessel and two jet skis (for patrolling the naturereserve) at Richards Bay; and several rubber ducks operating out ofKosi Bay, Bhanga Nek, Sodwana, Cape Vidal and St Lucia.

In addition, short-shaft, flat-bottomed boats operating out of StLucia check for gill nets.

"While all have good equipment, we could do with more biggervessels that have overnight capacity," said Nair.

Wayne Evans, Ezemvelo wildlife investigations officer, said theyalso occasionally flew with the South African Air Force betweenDurban and Kosi Bay, in an attempt to monitor fishing activities.

Very infrequently the Sarah Baartman, the Department ofEnvironmental Affairs and Tourism's flagship offshore environmentalprotection vessel - which is fitted with radar and thermal cameras,enabling it to videotape vessel activities at night - made a visitto KwaZulu-Natal waters, Evans said.

Ezemvelo's Benedict Nene said there were five licenced longlineoperators along the KwaZulu-Natal Coast who offloaded their catchin Richards Bay.

They fished for tuna and swordfish, but sharks, longfin tuna,albacore and dorado were often bycatches of such long-line fishing,said Nene.

Cobb said Chinese tongs (mafia) were well established in SouthAfrica, dealing in shark fin and perlemoen, and he believed greatwhite shark jaws were also being targeted.


This article was originally published on page 17 of Tribune on June 29, 2008