Op-Ed: Jonathan Gold on shark's fin

The LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold writes in Sunday's L.A. Times Opinion section about shark's fin and a pending state bill that would prohibit its sale:

As China's middle class continues to grow, the number of aficionados who can afford the delicacy is expanding. To meet accelerating demand, efficient new fishing boats have found ways to catch more sharks — way more sharks, many millions each year. And since there is a larger market for shark fins than for shark meat, some fisherman resort to "finning," a barbaric and wasteful practice in which the fins are hacked off live sharks, after which the bleeding, crippled animals are tossed back into the sea to drown. There is no sustainable source of shark's fin.

Read more here.  

Illustration by Wes Bausmith