Reply #30: Aboriginal hunters use most parts of the animal. [View All]

[ozone_man]

And it's integral to their culture to pay respect to the animals they hunt. They would never take a shark fin and waste the rest. They are among the few people who should be allowed to whale or seal hunt.

Fish need to be sustainably harvested. If we're over the sustainable limit, then we have to stop and let fish stocks recover. Personally, I think we need to gradually move beyond fish consumption, simply because the ocean can't sustain six billion people.

To prevent this sort of illegal trade, we have to go to the source, the demand side of the equation. Fisherman are just caught up in the demand for illegal marine life as are ivory hunters in Africa. Put pressure on the governments to enforce the law. Attack the demand side of the equation by creating negative publicity for cultures that support consumption of shark fin soup, trade in rhino horns, ivory, leopard skins, and all the rest. They've got to adjust to the environmental needs of the 21st century.