Shark fin soup.

Last night's concluding screening as part of Channel 4's very fishy week saw chef Gordon Ramsay confronting those boats and merchants involved in shark finning - the practice of removing the fins from sharks then to be used for the hugely popular Asian dish, shark fin soup -  not something carried out by the boats landing to Newlyn of course.......

dorsal fins, like in the picture above, according to the programme, are worth 18 times as much per kilo as the rest of the shark's body - many of the boats, rather than saving the whole carcass would simply dump the body of the shark rather than use up fuel, ice and space in the fishroom dealing to keep them aboard and simply landed the fins. Similarly, where sharks are caught in big numbers as a by catch the bodies are seldom retained on board.

A Thai tourism web site has carried an article pleading with visitors to Thailand not to eat Shark Fin soup in an attempt to cut down demand since 2001. This traditional Asian dish is often served at weddings, banquest and special occasions and has therefore become a part of cultural activity - something that is then difficult to change - a bit like saying that fattening turkeys for Christmas is now banned and asking people to celebrate Christmas dinner with an alternative.