Shark fins

The Asian demand for shark fin soup has risen drastically over the years, and is the contributing factor for the massacre of nearly 300,000 sharks off of Brazil.

The Brazilian Environmental Justice Institute has officially accused Siglo do Brasil Comercio, a well known exporter of sea food, of engaging in the illegal massacre of almost 300,000 sharks.

The group is actually taking them to court, and demanding compensation for what it says is “massive damage to the marine ecosystem”.

The group has alleged that most of the sharks were pulled up out of the water, had their fins removed, and then simply dumped unceremoniously back into the water.

The environmental group is going to be suing Siglo do Brasil Comercio for a princely sum of $790 million in damages, for its ill gotten sale of some 290,000 sharks since 2009.

“As we can’t put a value on life, we have calculated the impact on the ecosystem,” explained Cristiano Pacheco, the director of the group. “We think the sharkfins were exported clandestinely, in containers, likely from the ports of Rio Grande do Sul to the Asian market,” Mr Pacheco continued.

It is not legal to take the fins off the shark and them dump their carcasses overboard in Brazil, however they bring in a pretty penny from Asian diners, who use the fins in soups. In fact, some say that these self same Asian diners are encouraging the practice of taking only the shark’s fins, and throwing the rest back into the water.