Insane Alex, thanks for sharing. Showed everyone here on the ship and they can't believe how in your face it is.

Absolutely sickening! When will those people learn? What will they do in a few years when there are NO sharks left in our oceans?! I think they should have their limbs cut off and dried on the streets in the public eye.

SICK AND GROSS!!!!
freaks!

Alex. That's just over the top. Made worse because you were just lucky enough to be there to see it... Today. Let alone every other day of the year; let alone on whatever other blocks out there. The fact remains that it's legal. For the sellers and buyers, there's nothing wrong here. So the shame remains on both: the traders who are obviously ignorant of the real cost, and the people who are buying and eating this and are equally ignorant. Thank you for sharing this. Like Man & Shark, you continue to deliver important work.

Hi Alex, great post. I've shared it on facebook, some of my frds shared again.
SCMP might do a follow up story on it - but are you also our freelance contributor? I am not sure.

It would be great if you post it on CitizenMap as well - http://scmp.com/citizenmap
I totally understand your concern for this kind of citizen journalism as we discussed before, but I think posting low-pixel photos to give the community a sense of what is happening won't harm the professional standard of freelancers...

fucking ignorant asshole murderers

Wow that is horrid. Did it smell?

It stank of ammonia.

Absolutely disgusting to see this, but thanks for taking the time and having the stomach to get such a deplorable scene recorded.

Ivory is also sold in Hong Kong vendors say that they are using old stocks. I have lived in Hong Kong on and off for nearly twenty years and the vendors still give the same answer "OLD STOCK" C.I.T.E.S. is bullshit!
I have managed to stop the wifes amily eating Shark Fin at least when I am in attendance, it's a start.

See you around!
Alex

Those poor sharks!!! :(
I know that it's tradition and all so don't go calling them sick and twisted, it's just like catching fish. Even so, sharks are becoming endangered! They need to realize that and have a heart <:)

Who cares ? We could do without sharks anyway. Maybe you should concentrate your energy on exposing governments who shield terrorists or real problems that affect decent people, not a cool photo op with a trendy green idealistic angle.

This photo has left me speechless. Despite so many worldwide efforts, this type of catastrophic stuff is taking place every day in our oceans. We all need to help create awareness, education, solutions...This must be stopped!

I know this spot. The stalls along the road nearby are filled with so many sharkfins and the products of overfishing and poaching. The dried seafood markets in Guangzhou are pretty bad too. It is all so extremely unsustainable. It's really unfair to the many decent little local fishermen around the world who try to do things right. They follow the law and do small scale harvest and then large foreign fishing companies come in, backed and or protected by organized crime and they pillage local resources. How many of those dried sea cucumbers came from a Galapagos Marine Park? How many of the shark fins were taken in Cocos Island or some marine sanctuary in Micronesia? This is a serious problem that is about destructive, illegal business practices, not just "trendy green" issues. Analogies to most other ellicit/illegal trade such as drugs are justified. Good work Alex!

This is unacceptable. How do we get these pictures into the wider media? Imagine this: a billboard with two pictures side by side: the one above of all the fins next to one showing a picture of the same number of sharks as there are fins.

That is just unbelievable. I can't not even begin to comprehend the number of sharks that must have been slaughtered for a few measly delicacies. It's things like this that make me wonder why we don't have marine reserves to protect our marine life like sharks?
And in response to @Dave Johnson without sharks, there will be no bees, without bees there will be no pollination of plants therefore no more plants and flowers. This is the food chain and ecosystem. Everything directly affects the other. In the end affecting us humans too.

Good on you Dave johnson..
The world will be a better place when we get rid of all the animals, except chickens. what would we do without KFC

Spain produces 60% of the shark fins for the global shark fin market. Taiwan somewhere around 20%. Hong Kong is the least of this issues problems, this city is only a major consumer of the product, by tradition. If this is what it's like here, imagine shark finning in other countries...

IM SO SAD!!! I WANT TO CRY... WTF

Dave Johnson, how fucking ignorant are you? It's people like you that are screwing the world up for the next generations. Our planet is absolutely screwed without sharks maintaining the marine ecosystem. As for terrorist. Americans kill way more civilians than terrorist. Maybe you should reflect on your morales and look at the real problems facing our earth.

For anyone to post that we "don't need sharks anyway" or finds the senseless, barbaric act of finning live sharks acceptable in the 21st century - may want to ask the question, what happens to life on this planet once the oceans are dead??? Do some homework, and pretty soon you will discover that we do, in fact very much so, need sharks in the ecosystem, regardless of the bad rap they get whenever an "attack" occurs in a public beach. After all - the ocean is their habitat, not ours!

haha how ignorant are you? "we could do without sharks anyway" because what? people are STUPID enough to go surfing with them. Take it you're not aware that other animals will rely on sharks etc. no?

Tell you what though we could all do without people like you :)

(((((((((((((
Aaaaaa...ah ((

it's hard to pick on a foreign country when we do the same, if not worse in our own back yards. Ever seen what a gillnet brings in one load of a fishing vessel? Imagine if we laid out the skin and bones to represent our dead salmon and laid it out on Government Street for all to see. We should worry about how we sustain our own environment before we start shaming other countries

Yes, imagine the fins still attached. Then also imagine all the animals eaten, leather shoes warn etc, etc.

Knowledge about Eco-systems and Food Chains seems to be sadly lacking. Shark fins will continue to be sold as long as there are 'Muppets' out there willing to consume it. This was not helped with Michelin giving one of its prestigious Stars to a Sharks Fin Resto recently which doesn't help the awareness cause one bit.

So sad to see you "vet" your comments :C

Holy shit Dave Johnson, that must be the stupidest things I have heard in yeras. It is just pathetic. You clearly have no idea what the hell you are talking about.

This left me speechless when I saw one of the pictures on the Darkside's website. Fucking incredible. You've GOT to submit this internationally, man.

This left me speechless when I saw one of the pictures on the Darkside's website. Fucking incredible. You've GOT to submit this internationally, man.

Thanks, Father...

I did.

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/09/5617685-shark-fins-dry-i...

Bro, haven't you seen the Lion King? It's the circle of life! If you take a peice of the circle out, its no longer a circle, and the consequences will never be the same!

oh dear this makes me hungry. i freaking love shark fin soup

Despite sounding like a Vegan, the most popular animals we eat (ie. Chicken, Beef, Pork) are grown and slaughtered in a sustainable way. And the byproduct of their slaughter is their hides, which we can use as Leather, or Down (mix chicken and duck feathers). Slaughter houses that are NOT sustainable will ultimately fail as a business, because they will run out of animals. Simple.

Shark Finning is a bad practice because it does not have an ethical sustainability that can provide for a legal market that is profitable. Terrible to reduce it to business, but it is illegal in most countries because total annihilation is the only viable way to make a buck.

I disagree with destroying ecosystems, but I am not a Vegan or Hippie, I love sharks because they are one of a very few living predators that have direct links to our pre-historic dino-creation days. And they are majestic killers. Not reckless like us humans.

What can we do though? Whining about this issue is fun and may bring us contentment with the soup of sharksfin soup we ate last month, but any action we take will be countered by a new loophole by someone else. Its life, law and politics we have grown to adhere to.

And by the way- if you ever eat sharks fin without soaking it in Chicken Broth for a few hours (ie. shark's fin soup) it tastes like dried semen. My GF said so, and I believe her.

You are an idiot

with this is the stupid idiots jumping on the shark loving band wagon.

This is just Horrible,

i did a rough count
i think these are roughly 5000 sharks killed just for their fin. they just chop off the fin and throw the shark alive in the water to face a miserable death.
we are losing sharks at a tremendous rate.. look at the numbers..
Sharks play a very vital role in the oceanic life cycle. we have to stand up now and do something to stop this killing round the world.

Im chinese, everyone around me loves sharks fin. Its not about culture nor whether u like sharks or not. Many know that sharks fin is controversial- but they dont care! People are very ignorant, they dont want to know the cruelty we humans are inflicting to many things around us. This is just one level lower than what humans are doing to other humans. Its not all about sharks, but if u cant even protect or JUST LEAVE / harvest just a type of fish properly in a sustainable way..What does this tell you about the ability of humans to have some compassion and any emotions to care about other people, the state of our earth in the near future??
Its not whether we like it or not/ we like sharks or not..Its regulating shark fining sustainably!! And managing everything else sustainably!!

just out of curiousity how do u know these are wild sharks?

I have recently read a few of your posts and, to be honest, I don't think you are holding the 'right' attitude for your course. You can’t continue to come in and tell us your opinion, and expect us to do what you think is right... Especially considering the tone of some comments such as your past post about how your friend told you the issues that are happening (was it blue fin tuna eating) that could have arose out of 'racial' differences (Are you trying to tell us to be White? WTF?!). Nor does it help when you take a dislike to the local cultures, such as the Japanese eating shark's heart sashimi. I would agree that to kill a shark for its fin alone is excessive, but to kill it and use every part of it for anything from sashimi to skin ointment is a good economical act that justifies the killing. But than again, you guys will probably all just go vegetarian on me. Yawn

Judging by most comments I'm assuming you're all vegetarians? How about that steak you had for dinner? Sure, sharks are getting endangered, but isn't it the same form of cruelty as killing other animals for consumption? Open your eyes.. just because you may not have seen how your dinner was killed doesn't mean its justified to criticize the methods used on shit you may not have an interest to eat..

We need to impose a heavy tax on shark fin in HK, and use those tax money for sustainable fishing education.

Fuck you racist against china people.
Shark fin is so yummy and give strong benefit to the body.
You western ppl think you are educated and known evrything but waht if you were all wrong ?
Shark fin soup is traditionnal and delicious dish.
Fell asham of giving people lesson when you connot take care of your own country.

it's just food, come on, what's so shocked bout it?
get a grip, u people

hi alex, i'd like to do an interview with you re your work especially towards animal issues for my animal rights show. pls get in touch, cheers

Saw your picture in the SMP magazine today.

I didn't get a copy. Which pic is it?

Alex

"Tiger Mother" book is in the news at this moment. I can't help but see a similarity between the Chinese-American Yale Law Prof touting her Superior Chinese Mothering -- a mix of verbal abuse, rote learning and pathological self-aggrandizement -- and China's general wanton, obscene disregard for how it treats the earth and all living things.

Whoops, meant to say THANK YOU for important documentary photography like this.

What a terrible act, I can't even believe this photo. There will be no more sharks in our oceans, if they keep disposing of sharks this way. People need to be educated about this. This is such a terrible waste of a wonderful species.

Thanks for the picture Alex, it really shows how bad the problem is. I can understand people feeling like they are being culturally persecuted but that is not what I as an anti-shark finner am trying to do. I just want to raise awareness about a problem that concerns us all. Shark finning occurs in many countries, not just China, and the decimation of the shark population will impact humans. According to the New York Times and other sources, 90 percent of the world's sharks have vanished. As the top predator in the ocean, sharks keep the ocean's ecosystems in balance and without them we will lose countless other marine organisms such as shellfish, algae that produce most of the oxygen in the atmosphere, and countless fish species. I know someone out there will want hard proof of what I just said. I just finished writing a paper on shark finning and read countless articles and studies from both sides on the topic. Do some research on the subject before getting riled up and using harsh language (directed at both sides). In the meantime, Alex keep doing what you're doing. Pictures like this are worth millions of words and are supposed to provoke emotions in people, if people weren't reacting as they have been then you wouldn't be doing your job.

This is the worst thing i have seen in my life!