By Rob Edwards, Environmental Editor

IT'S a problem you'd be forgiven for thinking was confined to the waters of the south China seas - marauding fishermen slicing the fins off sharks to make soup then throwing the creatures, still live, back into the water to bleed to death.

But the ugly practice of shark "finning"

has hit Scottish waters to such an extent that holyrood is now issuing new rules aimed at preventing endangered sharks from having their fins cut off and sold to China for soup.

Ministers say they are determined to stop foreign-owned boats from shark finning in Scottish waters, condemning it as a "wasteful and damaging practice".

There is a lucrative market in Asia for the fins, which are said to be worth up to £450 a kilogram. Shark fin soup is prized as a traditional delicacy at weddings and banquets in China.

According to the Scottish government, Anglo-Spanish boats administered from Ayr and Ullapool have applied for 16 shark finning permits this year.

Seven permits were issued in 2006 and seven in 2007, despite the fact that sharks are increasingly at risk of extinction around Scotland. There are over 25 species of shark in Scottish waters, with over a quarter categorised as threatened, and a further 30% which could become endangered. According to the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network, sharks like the porbeagle and spurdog were once common in Scottish waters but are now seriously endangered.

Scottish ministers now say they want an end to shark finning. "We know that some shark populations are critically endangered, and that is why we are proposing even tougher restrictions in Scotland," said Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead. "I welcome the fact that across Europe, commitments are being made to review existing regulations on shark finning. I strongly believe it's a wasteful and damaging practice."

Lochhead has just returned from a Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg, where a European Union "Shark Action Plan" was adopted.

"In Scotland we will not sit back and wait for things to happen," he said. "We are determined to develop robust, workable procedures, proving beyond doubt that we are leading the rest of Europe on the conservation front."

Officials are now in the final stages of drawing up new regulations that will impose strict new conditions on the issuing of shark finning permits. Fishing boats will be forced to carry and pay for independent observers to check that correct procedures are being followed.

The observers will record the weight and species of sharks whose fins are removed, and will report any rule breaches to the new fisheries authority, Marine Scotland. Although the European Union is the world's largest exporter of shark fins to China, ministers hope that these regulations will effectively stop boats applying for licences other than in exceptional circumstances.

The Scottish government's move has been warmly welcomed by wildlife groups. "The shark fin trade encourages unsustainable mortality and unacceptable waste," said the Shark Trust's director of conservation, Ali Hood. "These proposals will ensure compliance and potentially reduce the requests for permits to near zero. We strongly support the progressive actions of the Scottish government."