BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — Texas Game Wardens seized hundreds of whole shark fins during an inspection of a seafood restaurant.
In a Facebook post, Texas Game Wardens shared a photo of nearly 400 shark fins that were found at a Bexar County restaurant. In the caption, investigators said they found an additional 29.2 pounds of frozen shark fins in the restaurant’s commercial freezer.
On April 13, 2022, Texas Game Wardens assigned to Bexar County and the K-9 Team performed an inspection of a local...
Posted by Texas Game Wardens on Monday, April 18, 2022
Neither the restaurant nor its owners were named by investigators, who said that charges were pending in the post.
Shark fins are used to cook certain delicacies, KENS reported. There are also some cultures that believe shark fins hold medicinal value, according to the Smithsonian Institution.
Texas became the 10th state to ban the trade of shark fins in 2015, becoming the first Gulf Coast state to enact such a law. The Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 forbids shark finning in any U.S. waters.
Shark finning is the process of removing a fin from a still-living shark and throwing the animal back into the water. According to the Smithsonian Institution, more than one million sharks are killed each year in the shark fin trade, with some shark populations decreasing 60-70% due to human shark fisheries.
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