Global News - February 2008
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Soup puts shark on endangered species list
Mon 18 February 2008 14:00 UK — Asia
The scalloped hammerhead shark has been placed on the official endangered species list.
According to the World Conservation Union, the shark is being fished so extensively for use in soups that it could soon become extinct.
The hammerhead has been classed as globally endangered, one step short of being critically endangered. It is fished on an industrial scale for its fin, which is regarded as a delicacy in China.
Commenting on the decline of the creature, US marine ecologist Dr Julia Baum said: "The oceans are being emptied of sharks. If we carry on the way we are we will be looking at a very high risk of extinction in the next few decades."
The scalloped hammerhead shark swims in schools and grows up to four metres long.
Numbers of the species have fallen by as much as 98 per cent off parts of the east coast of America, which has seriously alarmed scientists. It is estimated that 100 million are killed worldwide every year.
"Between 26 and 73 million sharks go through the Hong Kong food market each year, added Dr Baum. "That's three to four times the number reported to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, which collects fishing statistics."
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