HONG KONG — Shark fin traders could be escaping public scrutiny by using rooftops to dry thousands of shark fins, according to the Associated Press.
“It was surreal. I had seen a lot of shark fins before on the shelves in Hong Kong markets but nothing on such a massive scale. The weather was sunny and relatively dry. I imagine this is the ideal season to dry shark fins,” Antony Dickson, a Hong Kong-based photographer, told Global News.
AP reports that Ho Siu-chai, the president of the Hong Kong Sharks Fin Trade Merchants Association, denies the fishermen were deliberately doing business out of the public eye and explained the traders were probably just taking advantage of the extra space.
More than 73-million sharks are killed every year from finning, a practice where fishermen cut off a shark’s fin and throw it back into the ocean where it will bleed to death or drown. The shark fin is served in soup, traditionally as a Chinese delicacy. In recent months the Chinese government pledged to ban the serving of shark fin at banquets.
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