Florida, 10 October 2002

Letter to the Editor
International Herald Tribune

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Michael Richardson’s editorial "Sharks get slaughtered for tasteless fins" is long on conjecture and short on facts. The claim that shark fin soup is flavorless can hardly be regarded as reliable when it is made by an activist employed by a group that earns millions of dollars each year campaigning against shark fishing. Millions of people around the world demonstrate every day through their purchases that they enjoy the taste of shark fin soup. Is Mr. Richardson really trying to say they are all deluded?

It is also disappointing that Mr. Richardson should overlook the fact that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) adopted an International Plan of Action (IPOA) for Conservation and Management of Sharks in 1999. In the future, this should ensure that catches are sustainable, vulnerable or threatened stocks are identified and given special attention, unused incidental catches are minimized, and dead sharks are fully used. One of the problems with involving CITES in this area is that, as an administrative process, its listings of sharks and other fish would create a cumbersome and bureaucratic process for international fisheries while potentially making little impact on stocks of species that may be genuinely threatened.

Yours truly,

Eugene Lapointe
President
IWMC World Conservation Trust
Former Secretary-General of CITES (1982-1990)
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http://www.iwmc.org/sharks/021010.htm