Tsunami-hit town concerned over shark protection pact

Ok...first whaling, next tuna, now shark, when is the world going to get off Japan's back and leave their (rolling eyes) culture alone. BULLIES!

Shark skin is also used for grating wasabi and can be used in place of rough sand paper.

IUCN status for the blue shark is 'Near Threatened'. Leaving them alone for a bit might not be such a bad idea.

Just call it RESEARCH....

Not more japan bashing.

Sato said. “But I am worried the CITES debate may trigger a price collapse for shark fins.”

For the price to collapse, it has to be a bubble now. If anything, reducing the number of legal options should increase the price of the fins, unless there's more to this story than just fishermen fining sharks.

Uncontrollable human growth and technological advancement is the reason why some people have to stand up for endangerd spices, because the animals cant do it them self. Most parts of the world have some kind of regulations when it comes to fishing. When I was born we where 3.000.000.000 people living on this earth, today we are around 7.000.000.000 and when I die I assume we will be around 15.000.000.000. Therefore we have to proceed into the future with care and not short term maximal profit but insted an ecological long term profit.

It has nothing to do with "bashing" "bullying" "envy" or even Japan for that sake, it could have been any country. The reason why Japan have more problem with this then other nations is because you have one of the worlds biggest and most efficent fishing fleets.

People think diffrent but I regard humans to have a responsibility to save endagerd spices and not let selfish economic interests come first. Your children might want to eat sharkfin in the future too.

If restrictions are ever put in place against the sharks these fishermen are using, I hope they can find another, plentiful species to use. What they're doing seems ethical and responsible, and god knows that region needs income and jobs.

The ocean's inhabitants are finite if left uncontrolled. Population grows, world demand grows, does the ocean fish and mamals reproduction follow the growth?

An international agreement to protect sharks could spell trouble for one tsunami-wrecked port in Japan as it struggles back to its feet two years after being swept away, locals say.

Most of those shark fins were headed to Chinese restaurants anyway, so aside from the loss of jobs in Kesennuma the economic impact to the rest of Japan would be minimal. The people of Kesennuma need to diversify their businesses and not rely on a single industry.

But I am worried the CITES debate may trigger a price collapse for shark fins.

I would think the opposite would happen.

I don't agree with shark finning because they dump the body, but it's OK if you use the rest of the shark. They didn't mention what they do with the meat. Shark meat is great for fish and chips.