Soaring shark fin demand driving extinction threat: report

LONDON (AFP) - China's booming middle class is fuelling demand for shark fins for soup, experts said Wednesday, as they called on the European Union to halt the fall in dwindling stocks.

The study, by Washington-based research group the Lenfest Ocean Program with backing from the Shark Alliance, a coalition of some 30 conservation groups, calls on the EU to end "finning" in its waters.

"Finning" is when fishermen catch sharks and cut off their fins before throwing the carcasses back into the sea, leaving space on their boats for more valuable catches.

Researchers say that whole carcasses should be brought back to port before fins are chopped off to allow officials to get an accurate picture of how many sharks are being killed.

Quotas could then be set to help protect the 30 percent of shark species in European waters which are threatened with extinction, they add.