Outside of the cage with great white sharks, part 3

In Western cuisine caviar, lobster or filet mignon would be considered fancy foods. But in Asia, it is a bowl of shark fin soup.

“It’s really a status symbol item and that’s why the boom in the middle class has led to an increase in demand for shark fin soup,” said Dr. Alex Antoniou, founder of Fins Attached.

Based in Colorado Springs, Antoniou founded a shark research and conservation organization, Fins Attached, in 2010. Over just three days last spring, Antoniou discovered what it takes to feed that appetite.

“We found a warehouse, an entire floor of this industrial building warehouse that was nothing but dried shark fins,” Antoniou said.

Antoniou filmed store front after storefront packed full of dried shark fins and on the street, several tons of bags of new deliveries of fins. A single bowl of the soup can cost a hundred dollars or more.

“What you have is a product that makes people feel important, that’s all it does, because there’s no nutritional value and there’s no taste to the shark fin. Invariably the soup is flavored with something else,” Antoniou said.

Shark finning is illegal in American waters. Eight states have also made it illegal to buy, sell or consume shark fins. Antoniou hopes Colorado will become the ninth state.

“I always tell people they can help by not patronizing any stores or restaurants that trade or serve any shark products,” Antoniou said.

Fighting to keep fins on shark’s backs and out of people’s bellies.