Hong Kong Firm Fined for Procuring Shark Fins
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A federal judge ordered a Hong Kong company to pay $618,956 Monday for its role in a 2002 incident in which a fishing boat was seized with 64,695 pounds of shark fins.
Tai Loong Hong Marine Products Ltd. had chartered a Honolulu-based vessel to collect shark fins from other boats off the coast of Mexico, prosecutors said.
The case was the first prosecution under a 2000 federal law prohibiting finning, in which fins are ripped off sharks.
The King Diamond II was seized with fins from 11,000 to 20,000 sharks aboard. The fins were to be taken to Guatemala and then to Hong Kong, where fin soup is a delicacy.
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