Sharks' fin soup anyone?

[pookiesbleubass]

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This video just came up on my Facebook wall, shared by a friend from her friend.

As I watched, a couple of choice opinions formed so I shall list them down in chronological order.

1. Isn't it like the whaling problem in Japan?
2. How's that working out for you, ecovangelists?
3. Chinese eat them because of status. It's hard to get sharks' fin so it costs a lot to get them. But many Chinese are earning more and getting richer so they can easily afford to eat them now.
4. ...There are a lot more Chinese than Japanese. It's gonna be harder to stop fin-cutting than whaling and if they can't even put a halt to whaling yet, do you think will the sharks' fin-cutting will not continue?
5. Good for some of them, putting a stop to selling sharks' fin soup. But that's only a small victory. The patrons could easily just find another place that sells them if they really want to have some of them fins.
6. ...The fin industry should jack up the price more. See how many people can still afford to eat them after that. Back to status quo.
7. Even if they really make it illegal to hunt and de-fin sharks, do you think the Chinese will not find another way? We are nothing if not creative.
8. Yes, it is sad and cruel that they just dumped the de-finned shark back into the waters and yes, we do pride ourselves in being able to make full use of an animal and this is really one of the shining example of our most wasteful dish but that said, I will still eat it.

So far, the only time I have the chance to have sharks' fin soup is during wedding dinners where the courses are all paid for by the newly weds. If I do not finish my soup, it will go down the drain and the senseless death of the shark it came from would be really in vain. Not to mention a huge waste of money on the newly weds' part--they (probably) only wanted to make their wedding dinner a grand one.

But after *that* is being said, I don't think I'll go out of my way to purchase and/or prepare sharks' fin soup on my own.

So, sharks' fin soup anyone?