New York recently became the latest state to pass legislation banning the possession and sale of shark fins, a move to protect the marine predators.
Shark hunting and finning — the practice of removing a shark's fin and returning the maimed animal to the ocean to die — have had a serious impact on shark populations worldwide, with an estimated 100 million sharks killed each year.
Sharks are hunted not for their meat, but for their chewy, tasteless fins, which have been a Chinese status symbol since the Ming Dynasty, when it was cooked specifically for emperors. Today they are commonly consumed at Chinese weddings, banquets, and business dinners.
Since sharks are in the news (thanks, Shark Week!), we decided to take a look back at celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's 2011 investigative report on the shark fin trade in London, Taiwan, and Costa Rica. You can watch the entire documentary here or on Amazon.
Ramsay was not only shocked at how the sharks were slowly killed, but discovered that the crew had hacked a fin off a shark and threw the body overboard. The crew told Ramsay it wasn't a big deal because "it was only one fin."
But because of the negative associations with shark finning, restaurant owners and managers clam up when they're asked about it. This London restaurant owner wouldn't even let Gordon Ramsay and his cameras in to see the soup and talk to customers.
So in an effort to understand the shark fin demand, Ramsay traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, where shark fin soup is served everywhere from corner cafés to fine-dining establishments.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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