WildLifeRisk, a NGO
based in Hong Kong, has found a factory in PuQi, Zhejiang Province, China that
is killing at least 600 sharks each year. It is believed that this is the
world's largest slaughterhouse of whale sharks, an internationally protected
endangered species.
The factory dries
the whale shark fins and sent to the Guangdong Province to be sold, often used
as ornaments to attract customers to restaurants selling shark fin soup, while
skin is sold for leather, and other parts of the shark are sold for food. Most
valuable, however, is the shark liver, the oil is sold for skin care products,
and Omega-3 health supplements.
In addition to the
whale sharks, basking sharks and white sharks are processed at the PuQi
factory.
Some of the products
obtained from these endangered sharks at the PuQi factory are sold
internationally against the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species agreement. Furthermore, in China whale sharks, basking sharks, and
white sharks are protected and it is illegal to hunt them without special
permitting.
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