We went back to Kudat last weekend for holiday. I had the opportunity to go to Kota Marudu Tamu (Sundays open market here in Sabah) for a test of my new Nikon D40 that I bought from lelong.com.my last month.
It’s actually my Sunday mornings ritual every time I went back to Kudat – a visit to Sikuati Tamu for fresh fish and vegetables, but this time around, my wife suggested that we go to Kota Marudu instead. My brother in law also said that Kota Marudu’s Tamu is bigger, and I could find more local people to shoot.
When I arrived there, I found a lot of people and things that were very familiar to me. But then, one trader pulled my attention to what she sells – salted and dried baby sharks.
I was did not aware that these sharks are endangered species according to IUCN 2008 Red List, until I went for my open water scuba diving license. I even promoted sharks fin in my website before but I removed the entry when somebody pointed out the issue. I will not be helping those sharks if I continued to promote sharks fin soup (which are available here in Kota Kinabalu) in my website.
If I am correct, the sharks that are featured in this blog post is Carcharhinus borneensis, or common name is Borneo shark. Any icththyologist here? Correct me if I am wrong…
The photos
It was not that difficult to find traders who sells sharks here at the Tamu. I found at least 3 traders selling sharks, a trader sells salted sharks and the other two sells fresh caught sharks. I was shocked when the salted sharks trader offers me only RM2 (~USD0.55) for a pile of 3 of juvenile (babies) sharks.
I did not intend to buy those fish at the beginning, but I did not feel comfortable shooting those sharks while the trader looking at me with a peculiar stare. After snapping few shots, I pulled out my wallet and gave her 2 RM1 notes. She packed the left pile of sharks and handed to me. After exchanging smiles, I thanked her and left.
In case you are wondering what I did with those sharks that I bought; I buried it after finished shooting the above photos. I did not have the heart to eat it. My wife thought I was weird…
With the salted sharks in hand, I then walked to the fresh fish market, hoping to find more sharks to shoot. Fortunately, I found another 2 traders selling fresh caught sharks.
The first one that I saw sells at least 3 7-kilogram sharks. Two of the sharks were sliced nicely but the one that you see in the photo is without its fins. I am not sure how much they sell the sharks per kilogram, as I did not dare to ask…
Seeing me shooting his sharks, the guy who trade the sharks mumbled with a grin, “wah… ini masuk national geographic ke animal planet?” (Will this be in national geographic or animal planet?). I smiled at him, stopped snapping and left.
The last fish monger had only one fish. Looks juvenile, around 80 cm with fins intact. Most probably they were all the same species.
The references
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/39367
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borneo_shark
I wish to see alive and swimming sharks while diving here in TARP. I noticed they spotted whale sharks at Gaya Island waters in March 2008…
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
brother, i am seriously out of touch of all these endangered species conservation thingy….but i would like say that I have no problem with people consuming sharks….
okok, hear me out first lar…
ok, first of all, these nelayan are just seeking a living, so they are not targeting sharks specifically and hence the quantities they got are just minimal… if indeed these sharks goes extinct, seriously, they are as much the culprit as everyone of us who allows our rubbish to be burnt or waste water to flow to the sea….
second, they consume the fish entirely. this shows that they are just consuming what God has rightfully given to them (sorry to bring God into the picture….:) ). My opinion is that as long as they don’t waste the food, then by all means, go ahead.
My problem comes with those fella who only harvest the fins. These are the people that we should really really telanjang….
Do you know that they cut off the fins and throw back the shark (still alive) into the sea? Shark meat fetch very little in the market due to the smell, and as such, these people only harvest the fins….
As a Chinese, I seriously oppose shark fin soup! Better use vegetarian ones, no difference at all….!
Happy New Year!
KaKiaYam
Now China people are getting richer and they want to have a taste of shark fin to show their status. There is one famous description that a perfect rich Chinese is the one can “wash their mouth with shark fin”. Chilling… imagine the strong demand from this 1 billion people market. The killing will get worse.
In the last 2 pics, weren’t that ‘Ikan Bedukang’ ?
In West Malaysia we called it ‘ikan mayong’, if not mistaken
@ Sarulakmal:
Ikan bedukang have distinctive stripes over the body. But this one doesn’t look to have. Ikan duri have similar resemblance. Still curious…
Doc,
I think the salted ones are from Blue Shark species.
Its a hunch based on reading coz that they have larger pectoral fins that will accommodate their long distance swimming life.
Cant be sure for the one on the market. No fins left to be guessed.
In the last 2 pictures, what’s on the right of the sting rays look like ordinary “cat fish” to me. I may be wrong.
John Abraham is right, it is normal catfish beside the shark.
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