Beached Basking Shark Recovery - I don't get the finning thing. After all it's dead already

[george]

On May 17 and 18, ECOs Ike Bobseine, Evan Laczi, Jordan Doroski, and Rob McCabe assisted in the difficult recovery and necropsy of a dead Basking Shark on the beach near Southampton Village. Soft sand and six-foot waves made the 26-foot-long, 10,000-pound animal difficult to move, but the officers attached a rope to its tail and brought the animal away from the shoreline. The Southampton Village Highway Department assisted in moving the shark with a payloader. Once it was onshore, ECOs McCabe and Bobseine helped perform a necropsy and collect samples to share with marine research partners. The ECOs then removed the shark's fins to prevent their potential sale on the black market, and the animal was buried.

 

[Roccus7]

View attachment 6305​

On May 17 and 18, ECOs Ike Bobseine, Evan Laczi, Jordan Doroski, and Rob McCabe assisted in the difficult recovery and necropsy of a dead Basking Shark on the beach near Southampton Village. Soft sand and six-foot waves made the 26-foot-long, 10,000-pound animal difficult to move, but the officers attached a rope to its tail and brought the animal away from the shoreline. The Southampton Village Highway Department assisted in moving the shark with a payloader. Once it was onshore, ECOs McCabe and Bobseine helped perform a necropsy and collect samples to share with marine research partners. The ECOs then removed the shark's fins to prevent their potential sale on the black market, and the animal was buried.

Dead or alive, it doesn't matter because they just cut the fins off and dry them out. Since there's a ban on fin sales, if someone took the time to dig up this carcass and remove the fins to dry them, the only way they could sell them would be on the black market. That being said, I don't think they're have to walk more than a couple of yards down Mott Street to find an eager buyer...