China's Factory Slaughters 600 Whale Sharks Annually

A factory in China slaughters nearly 600 sharks annually making it the world's largest shark abattoir. These species of sharks are listed as in 'danger of extinction' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Hong Kong based wildlife conservation group, WildLifeRisk  conducted a 4-year-long investigation into this illegal slaughtering of these sharks, which include whale sharks. The factory located in PuQi, a town in Zhejiang province of China, makes huge profits by industrial processing of shark skin, liver and flesh for food and lifestyle products.

The conservation group posed as an international seafood trading company looking for products to conduct their investigation. Its directors, Alex Hoffman and Paul Hilton said in a press statement, "We went to PuQi three times in the last three years, and on each occasion the scale of the slaughter was truly staggering. These harmless giants of the deep can be slaughter on such an industrial scale is beyond belief -all for human vanity."  The group alleged that whale shark skins were dried in PuQi and sold to restaurants in Guangdong province.

In a joint report, the directors added that shark skins are sold as leather and the flesh is used for making food products. But the real money maker is the shark's liver. The oil extracted is sold to the international manufacturers of skincare products and health supplements.

Undercover camera footage showed the factory's general manager, Li Guang, admitting the slaughter of countless basking and great white sharks.  Regulation of Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and Chinese law prohibits trade of products coming from endangered species.

The fishermen make good profits selling a whale shark for almost $31,000. The middlemen and other people involved in this tradeoff claim to be unaware of conservation laws and CITE regulations.

"It is legal to have a shark-processing plant, but the species they are actually processing are protected internationally and in China," Hilton said. He also said that if this continues, these animals will eventually face extinction.