As Shark Populations Collapse Worldwide, Manta Rays Next On The Menu

[hatrack]

Oh, by the way, FUCK CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE.

Conservationists fear a falling shark population is prompting Asian chefs to look for manta and devil rays to help meet the voracious demand for shark fin soup. Found in coastal waters throughout the world, rays present an easy target as they swim slowly near the surface with their huge wings. So far, they have escaped commercial exploitation and have been hunted only by small numbers of subsistence fishermen, who traditionally catch them using harpoons.

But the growing demand for the manta ray (Manta birostris) and its close cousin the devil ray (of the Mobula genus) is turning ray fishing into an export operation. In the eastern Indonesian port of Lamakera, catches of manta have rocketed from a few hundred to about 1,500 a year.

“Mantas and mobulas are being used as shark fin soup filler,” said Tim Clark, a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii. He said the cartilage was being mixed with low-grade shark fins in cheap versions of the soup. “The life history of manta rays makes them highly susceptible to overfishing,” he added. With a life span thought to be well over 50 years, the fish reach sexual maturity only in their teens, at which time they produce one pup every one to three years.

While the rays, which are distantly related to sharks, are ending up in Hong Kong’s restaurants, their gills are also being used in traditional Chinese medicines. “The big market is for the gill elements,” Mr Clark added. “They are dried, ground to a powder and used in traditional Asian medicines.”

EDIT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6345512.ece

[Captain Hilts]

1. Folks just see sea creatures as food, etc. Sad. "I'm a vegetarian, but I'll eat seafood." Ugh! nt

[ladjf]

2. Basically, the human race has turned out to be vermin, killing

everything it comes in contact and improving nothing.nt

[callous taoboy]

3. For weeks now I've been completely bummed about our oceans.

I last visited the beach, south Padre Island, two summers ago. A storm had brought in a huge amount of trash from the ocean, including syringes.

[Nihil]

4. Totally agree with your first line ...

... but the bit that got me was this:
> “Mantas and mobulas are being used as shark fin soup filler,” ...
> ... the cartilage was being mixed with low-grade shark fins in
> cheap versions of the soup.

As if the whole concept of "shark fin soup" wasn't obscene enough,
they go and kill other vital fish for fucking "filler"!

> With a life span thought to be well over 50 years, the fish reach
> sexual maturity only in their teens, at which time they produce
> one pup every one to three years.

That's one population that will crash but there will still be the
plaintive cries from politicians that "we couldn't predict that"
and more goddamned bleating from the fishermen that "their livelihood
has gone away".

Fuck the lot of them.

:mad:

[voteearlyvoteoften]

5. rec