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Shark fins, meat still delicacy in Jakarta
Shark fin and meat curing businesses are run with caution in Jakarta, where the price of a small bowl of shark fin soup can reach into the millions of rupiah following restrictions on the shark meat trade, as some species are now endangered.
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Fishermen load sharks onto a small truck at a fish auction market in Karangsong, Indramayu, West Java, on Saturday. The sharks are sold for Rp 50,000 (US$3.5) per kilogram. (Antara/Dedhez Anggara)
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hark fin and meat curing businesses are run with caution in Jakarta, where the price of a small bowl of shark fin soup can reach into the millions of rupiah following restrictions on the shark meat trade, as some species are now endangered.
One such businessperson is Luwih, 40, who runs a business specializing in shark and stingray meat near Muara Angke dock in Penjaringan, North Jakarta. However, she said she did not worry too much as long as she followed the guidelines on which shark species were allowed to be caught and processed.
“My business is safe as long as I process smaller sharks,” Luwih told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
She admitted that she had processed other kinds of sharks in the past, such as hammerhead sharks, which as of 2018 can only be traded in the domestic market. Now she does not cure hammerhead shark meat even though some of her customers still request it.
Following in her parents’ footsteps, Luwih started the business 17 ago, and cures around 3 tons of shark meat and fins, as well as 2 tons of stingray meat, weekly, supplied by fishermen from outside Jakarta, such as from Tegal in Central Java, Bali, or Papua.
She then sells the dried products to various wholesalers in Bogor, Bandung or Cianjur in West Java for Rp 26,000 (US$1.85) to Rp 175,000 per kilogram, depending on the grade.
Curing shark meat typically took around five to six days, Luwih said, but some only took around two days.
