Hong Kong tourists searching for a real eye-opener might consider a visit to the Kwong Ga Factory Building, 64 Victoria Road, Kennedy Town.
What you probably will see, if you can attain a view of the rooftop, are thousands of drying fins that once belonged to living sharks, which play a crucial role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems.
Photojournalist Alex Hofford captured incredible footage at the Kennedy Town building, and posted striking images on his website, revealing what presumably is only a partial extent of the fin-drying business in Hong Kong.
(Note: Photo posted above is courtesy of Alex Hofford and protected by copyright law. See Hofford's video posted below.)
They are impressive visuals, but undoubtedly disturbing to conservation-minded people who care about healthy oceans, and about live sharks versus those slaughtered so people in China can enjoy a delicacy for the affluent: shark-fin soup.
An estimated 70 million sharks are killed annually just for their fins. Hong Kong is a hub through which many of those fins pass. Hofford, if nothing else, has raised lots of awareness as his work is being widely shared this week in cyberspace. It was a job well done but one, he stated, that left him feeling "disgusted with humanity."
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