Miri Tales : Shark BBQ Steak

Some supermarkets in Asia have stopped selling shark's fins.

This is not an article for or against eating of shark meat.

I know "finning" is an atrocious act to the shark population. I have seen a mother shark being slaughtered and my children cried at the sight...little baby sharks coming out of the womb still alive and floating away into the nearby pavement at the Miri Fish Market. I felt my own body curling up in pain and I clutched my child nearest to me. My heart stopped beating as the mother shark closed its eyes. My children looked away from the painful sight.

From a more realistic angle....may be we have to take a look at how some of the indigenous people living off the sea look at their harvest from the sea. The sea is now giving less to the local fishermen who have few technologically based equipment. Simple boat with minimal equipment. Small boats which cannot go too far out to the sea. The weather has not been fishermen friendly..and the seas have become warmer.

Fish prices have gone up from RM 6 per kg for ikan tenggiri to RM24 in the last 4 or 5 years.

And so many people have gotten used to trying out the cheaper fish (which used to be free from the fishermen)...Shark meat!

Maybe I'm naive or just fussy about my fish, but I'm truly surprised by shark's popularity, especially considering that shark fishing is so unhealthy for both people and the environment. Most species of shark contain extremely high levels of mercury, so consuming them really isn't advisable for anyone. Plus, sharks reign at the top of oceanic food chains, serving the all-important task of keeping populations of other species in check. Remove the top of the food chain and the world's waters can get—to put it mildly—irreparably damaged. Shark fin soup already seems pretty unappetizing. The fact that it's loaded with mercury and is largely responsible for the world's declining oceans—well, I'd rather eat something as gross as KFC's Double Down sandwich.

To really boost shark populations, the world needs to institute international shark fin bans, adopt species-specific management, and make efforts to reduce shark bycatch. According to the International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN), 50 of the world's 307 shark species are listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. Yet only three shark species—the white, whale, and basking—are protected internationally by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The population data on sharks is out there, but legislative bodies can't (or rather, won't), put the proper protections in place.http://news.change.org/stories/why-are-supermarkets-selling-shark-meat

It is often said that shark meat is full of mercury (see abstract above)...It is your  choice...but the meat  is not really that chewy . It is quite tasty actually.
Let us keep our options more open and be sensible in our eating....