Federal authorities in Brazil seized more than 63,200 pounds (28,700 kilograms) of shark fins on Monday (June 19) in what may be the world's largest-ever confiscations of illegal shark fins, according to officials at Ibama, a federal agency under Brazil's Ministry of the Environment.
Shark finning is the practice of cutting off a live shark's fin and, usually, throwing the rest of the shark back into the ocean. These fins are sold mostly to Asian countries, where they are used in traditional Chinese medicine or served as a delicacy in shark fin soup, and can fetch up to $591 per kilogram ($1,313 per pound) in the market. Though shark fishing is currently banned across Brazil, some fishers still illegally catch these apex predators in certain areas, Ibama officials said.
