I saw six sharks being cut up for their fins a few days ago. And as monstrous as it was, I know it wont make headlines, it isnt news. Currently, the fins from an estimated26 million to 73 million sharksare sold each year, thats up to 8,000 sharks killed an hour.
And the market is booming.
A shark is pulled up as by-catch in the Indian Ocean
It happened during our second ship inspection for the day, this time it was a Japanese longliner that was out for tuna and tuna-like species. We were about 200 km from shore in an area of water that Mozambican officials cant often patrol for a number of reasons. Two fisheries inspectors from Mozambique were with us, authorised to inspect what was being caught, and if it was being recorded in line with regulations.
The crew onboard, about 20 or so, was friendly enough, and they were just getting ready to haul in their lines their incrediblylonglines.
Were talking a fishing line 120 km long with a shorter line leading off it every 40-50 metres. Each of those lines has a baited silver hook on the end; 3,000 hooks altogether.
So the length of the line is an hours drive in a fast car, passing a hook every 2 seconds. Its fed out the back of the ship early in the day and slowly hauled in just before sunset.
During inspection we found a rack of drying shark fins that had been strung up.
I counted about 30 sets of fins, many of them still fresh. The ships license allows for sharks to be caught, but fins cannot be more than 5% of the total shark catch. Technically sharks are still classed as by-catch on paper they arent seen as a target species in the way that tuna is.
All too often, sharks caught as by-catch and finned, helping bolster the economic performance of tuna fishing boats. Greenpeace is campaigning worldwide to change the way fish are caught- we can save our oceans and the sharks if we reduce bycatch.
However as the demand for shark fin continues to rise, so does the price, and shark fins have become a hot commodity.
On deck the various tools and implements were all laid out and the wheels started pulling in the line. I was standing up on a raised platform that looked down on the fishing deck; a birds-eye-view of the crews well rehearsed movements.
There was no talking or shouting. The crew had surely done this dance a thousand times before, and theyd keep doing it for at least the next 12 hours, thats how long it takes to pull in a stretch of line 120km long.
Greenpeace activists, along with Mozambican government officials, inspect a fishing vessel operating in the Indian Ocean.
The first catch was a blue shark, and for this too, the crew has a dance. A group of men huddle together at the place where fish are gaffed and pulled onto the ship.
I wonder about them: how much are they paid to do this, how long are they away from families? One of the men is easily 60 years old and hes doing the same as all the others, pulling, passing, unclipping, packing, working a 12-hour shift. He has a cloth rolled up as a headband and stoops a little when he walks. Perhaps he shows the others how its done and loves his job. Maybe he hates it.
And the shark is dragged onboard, still alive. Its a good catch. Later, when its all over, the photographer points out to me that the sharks eyes were closed the whole time. But thats surely just instinct, I hope.
Her head is cut off, and then come the fins. A 200 kg animal slaughtered for 1 kg or two, for soup. Like I said, this isnt news. It happens all the time, and its completely legal.
A shark is butchered for fins, then disemboweled, her babies wriggling on the deck.
Michael Baillie is currently onboard the Rainbow Warrior in the Indian Ocean but is based in Greenpeace Africa’s Johannesburg office in South Africa.
