Brazilian Business Accused of Mutilating Sharks for Fins

Here’s a story sure to rain on your Shark Week parade: A Brazilian environmental advocacy group is suing a Brazilian seafood exporter, alleging that it has been capturing sharks, cutting off their fins, and throwing the severely wounded creatures back into the water. Removing a shark’s fin is illegal in Brazil, but the demand for shark fin soup is so strong in Asia, and particularly China, that trade in the fin is booming, the BBC explains.

The group is suing the company for $790 million. “As we can’t put a value on life, we have calculated the impact on the ecosystem,” says the Environmental Justice Institute. “We think the sharkfins were exported clandestinely, in containers, likely from the ports of Rio Grande do Sul to the Asian market.” For happier Shark Week stories, click here and here. (More sharks stories.)