Shark's fin are popular and luxury materials
of Chinese cuisine. In the 17th century, they were frequently
exported from Nagasaki, Japan to China as one of the popular dried
products. Since then, they have become a major export good of Japan
to China. Today, with its high-standard processing techniques, Japan
is the leading producer of top-quality artificial shark's fin, which
enjoy a good reputation in the Chinese food industry around the
world.
Sharks are landed as incidental fish in
long-line tuna fishing. However, the recent supply of sharks comes
to be insufficient due to the decrease in numbers of long-line
fishing ships, fishing control sanctions, and a shortage of sharks.
As a result, the market faces imbalance of demand and supply, and
the price of shark's fin soars tremendously. Under these
circumstances, Ritsurin Bussan has developed the new products -
dried and frozen artificial shark's fin, which are quite similar to
natural shark's fin in both taste and appearance. Artificial shark's
fin have already been penetrated the domestic and international
market as a suitable substitute for natural shark's fin, and their
production are increasing year by year.
