Quote:
Originally Posted by HPLovecraft
I agree that by-catch is something that definitely needs to be addressed, too, but, seemingly, so does targeting sharks solely for their fins. There is no rule saying one needs to be addressed before the other and hopefully they're both addressed. Based on the little I do know about shark finning, though, it doesn't appear one of these issues is serious while the other isn't, and that reads like more of a rhetorical attempt to minimize the importance of it than anything else. That, and this post feels like an appeal to hypocrisy fallacy. "This is bad, but so is this other thing (even more so), and the majority of people aren't doing anything about that, so the ban and hatred of this bad thing by those people isn't credible."
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I think targeting sharks soley for their fins needs to be addressed and outlawed because its wasteful and cruel. My point is that you can outlaw finning without outlawing shark fin soup just like I think you can save bluefin tunas without banning the sale of every type of tuna.
I didn't bring up by-catch to point out how it is wasteful and cruel, which it is. Instead, I brought up by-catch because some sources estimate that half of the sharks die because they are caught as by-catch. My point was that even with a shark fin soup ban, you're not necessarily going to save the sharks if you don't also address the issue of all those sharks that die as by-catch and over-fishing them for their meat
I'm saying if the real goal is to save sharks, then you need a comprehensive fishing management system in place that bans finning, addresses all those sharks getting killed as by-catch, prevents over-fishing of endangered species, establishes habitat protection, etc.. A feel-good law against shark fin soup won't do that if it doesn't address those other factors as long as it singles out shark fin soup as the only reason for the decline of sharks.