Fri, 22/03/2013 - 8:19am

Here's a set of shark fin images from Taiwan, that I've not had the chance to give the proper airing that they deserve.

I've been meaning to get these photos out, before they get too old.

Welcome to DongGang fish market, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

These images were taken on assignment with Greenpeace International as a part of their East Asia oceans campaign.

Often times, when I mention the shark fin trade in Taiwan people ask me, "But what about the 'fins-attached' policy?"

I tell them that on the day that I went there, and these photos were taken on 04 November 2012, I didn't see much of that, to be honest.

But here's one picture that does show a bit of that policy in action.

Note the mono-filament plastic fishing line that is binding the 'log' to the fins.

On the whole I saw mostly unattached fins.

I certainly didn't see a single inspector from the Taiwan Fisheries Agency.

But to be fair, here's an image I took on a Taiwanese longliner in 2011 that shows a frozen oceanic whitetip shark with it's fins attached to prove that it does actually go on. But to what extent, I don't know. For the record, this species is newly-protected by CITES.

Unloading 'logs'.

Thresher shark fins being bagged up.

Finally, a poor hammerhead shark that has had his cephalofoils, or hammers, sliced off.

Nice.

Sorry. Not very uplifting for a Friday afternoon, I do apologise.

Have a great, shark-free, weekend...

ALEX HOFFORD : HONG KONG CHINA TAIWAN KAOHSIUNG DONGGANG FISH MARKET SHARK FIN PHOTOGRAPHER