Tales of the Shark Fin Mafia

This picture is from a documentary called 'Sharkwater,' by Rob Stewart. He'll be on the show tonight. Here's an excerpt of an interview he did:

Tell us about shark-finning.
Sharks are caught for their fins. Poachers cut off the fins and dump the bodies overboard. The fins are sold for shark fin soup and though many countries have banned shark-finning, millions of sharks are illegally harvested each year...

We met someone who believed there was a connection between the Taiwanese mafia and all the shark fins turning up in Asia. We started checking it out and this guy had a few places where he knew we would find fins. We started investigating and there were fins everywhere. There were miles of fin operations with thousands of fins drying on rooftops, people bringing in fins. We quickly figured out there was an enormous amount of money coming into the country and there was this whole underground multi-billion dollar industry.

Were you nervous?
Absolutely. We ran at some point. The operators came at us with guns. And we had to run. I wish we could have stayed. I wish I had the balls to stay, to keep filming. We had to hop in cars and leave. Our guide later told us the shark-fin 'mafia' was on the lookout for us and it would not be a good idea to walk around town.