Shark fins removed from 'front window' of China-based website, but apparently still available to buyers
As suspected by conservation groups and subtly alluded to Thursday on Outposts, sharks around the world probably are no safer than they were before Alibaba.com, on Jan. 1, stopped allowing the open sale of shark fins on its global marketplace website.
That's because some wholesalers, while they can no longer list shark fins on the site, apparently are still selling them on request to interested buyers.
Shark fins, you may recall, are the key ingredient for shark-fin soup. Fins are obtained by fishermen who net and haul sharks aboard, slice off their fins, and discard the writhing sharks, which sink and slowly die.
It is perhaps the most disgusting form of fishing on the planet -- yet, demand for shark-fin soup remains high in many parts of the world.
Outposts salutes Shark Diver for exposing the loophole in Alibaba's new guidelines.
Shark Diver, during the first week of January, claims to have posed as three different buyers asking for 11,000 pounds of shark fins from 11 sellers. Nine reportedly responded positively, and the other two did not respond. Shark Diver, a commercial shark-diving company, sourced 88,000 pounds of shark fins.
"This is not in anyway an eco win," said Patric Douglas, CEO of Shark Diver. "They just took the shark fins out of the front window."
Guess it did seem too good to be true.
-- Pete Thomas
Photo of lemon shark courtesy of Christie Fisher via Shark Diver
With all due respect, it is difficult to imagine how e-commerce companies could take responsibility for the products that a company markets/sells outside of what they post online. The best we can expect e-commerce companies to do is control what is posted on their sites and, for doing this, I believe that e-commerce companies banning product postings of shark fins is a step forward, not a step back. It would help our cause to applaud these companies rather than vilify them for making positive policy changes.
Posted by: Dr. Michael Bates | January 09, 2009 at 08:35 PM
Dr. Michael Bates: I did not mean to imply that Alibaba was condoning the sale of shark fins, since banning their listing on its website beginning Jan. 1. I was merely pointing out that it probably did not do sharks a world of good. Indeed, Alibaba's policy change was a positive step.
Posted by: Pete Thomas | January 09, 2009 at 08:41 PM
That's a good point Dr.Bates but this was the mandate set by Alibaba.com and parent company Taobao.com
"Taobao.com announced to its 400 million online members that all shark fin products will be banned from trade on Taobao.com starting 1, January 2009."
I disagree that online trading sites have little to no control over sales. Education is what is most needed both for the seller and buyer and that takes corporate will.
We posted a few ideas for these companies to help stop the sale of sharks fin that amount to a few lines of code and some basic web work. The net result if they enact these ideas will be much needed education and a drastic reduction of sharks fin sales on their sites:
Purchase Side Changes
1. When doing a search for "sharks fin" or any variations thereof Alibaba.com could initiate a pop up with the rules and regulations regarding sharks fin sales. We will suggest they build a "Red Site", listing "by section" items that are banned from sale or trade.
2. When signing up as a buyer Alibaba.com can use this process to direct the buyer to their "Red Site" using consumer drill down sales models they have identified internally.
Sales Side Changes
1. Sellers of all shark products and seafood products should receive warnings that are posted to each sellers site on Alibaba.com automatically. For example if you arrive at seller X's sea product site there's a link to the new "Red Site" with a warning about sharks fin sales.
2. Sellers are given a one strike policy. If sales of "Red Site" items happen and are verified they (seller) are banned forever.
These are a few positive and lasting changes that would have an immediate effect. Taobao.com and Alibaba.com could, if serious about banning the sale and trade of sharks fin, make these simple and industry leading changes within the month.
Posted by: Shark Diver | January 09, 2009 at 10:47 PM
This image on the URL http://www.deichmann-photo.com/files/category-environmental-articles.html (Filed under Environment articles) was recently published in Stern Magazine as the Photo of the Week it was also published in Mail Online World News, in Muy Magazine Spain and Portugal...a sad but true story how sharks getting killed all over the Planet for their shark fins and in huge numbers. An achievement as quoted in the above article Shark Diver, during the first week of January, claims to have posed as three different buyers asking for 11,000 pounds of shark fins from 11 sellers. Nine reportedly responded positively, and the other two did not respond. Shark Diver, a commercial shark-diving company, sourced 88,000 pounds of shark fins.
But when you see the sheer amount of shark fins been unloaded out of this just one trawler then it really sinks in...and you start to Think. Why?
At this rate there be NO sharks left very soon,
I have include also the other URL for your info:
A sad shark's tale: Shocking images show scale of fin trade, as featured in Mail Online World News
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1086501/A-sad-sharks-tale-Shocking-images-scale-fin-trade.html
Gunther Deichmann
Posted by: Gunther Deichmann | January 10, 2009 at 07:36 AM