Widespread panic was averted today after a 'man-eating shark' was spotted in London's Chinatown. Immediately after the sighting, Bite-Back - the UK's only shark and marine conservation charity - deployed a group of marine lifeguards to raise the alarm and escort restaurant-goers from danger.

The event, on the eve of European Shark Week (9-17 October), was part of Bite-Back's campaign to turn the phrase 'man eating shark' on its head and educate visitors to Chinatown on the real...
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Widespread panic was averted today after a 'man-eating shark' was spotted in London's Chinatown. Immediately after the sighting, Bite-Back - the UK's only shark and marine conservation charity - deployed a group of marine lifeguards to raise the alarm and escort restaurant-goers from danger.

The event, on the eve of European Shark Week (9-17 October), was part of Bite-Back's campaign to turn the phrase 'man eating shark' on its head and educate visitors to Chinatown on the real impact of shark fin soup consumption and the daily death of 190,000 sharks to keep up with global demand.

Campaign director for Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: "It's time to re-evaluate the meaning of the words 'man-eating shark' and understand that human consumption of shark and shark fin soup could signal the extinction of 20 species by the year 2017. Sharks deserve the same reverence as lions and tigers and that's why we're urging the public to avoid eating in restaurants that sell shark fin soup and establishments that sell shark products."

With some shark fins selling for US $600 a kilo, the incentive to catch sharks simply for their fins is at an all time high. Across the globe huge numbers of fishing boats are now hunting the ocean's apex predator and then slicing the valuable fins from the sharks before throwing them back in the water to die. It is a practice that has been likened to the massacre of elephants purely for their tusks.

Graham Buckingham said: "If we don't halt the slaughter we'll either be participants or witnesses to an underwater holocaust. We think sharks should be worth more alive than dead and that's our motivation for campaigning to devalue a dead shark by ending the sale of shark and shark related products in the UK."

Bite-Back successfully campaigns to end the sale of shark items in the UK.
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