1,400 pounds of shark fins seized at Florida port

MIAMI – Fourteen-hundred pounds of dried shark fins were seized at a Miami port, according to wildlife officials.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday that the shipment of dried fins was believed to have originated in South America and was likely bound for Asia.

The fins arrived in 18 different boxes.

Officials estimate its commercial value to be between $700,000 and $1 million.

Conservation groups say tens of millions of sharks are killed each year by smugglers who cut the fins from live animals. They are often turned into shark fin soup, considered a Chinese delicacy.