China Takes Shark Fin Off the Menu
Beijing has announced that shark fin soup, an ethically questionable delicacy, will no longer be served at state functions, a move that has many, including Beijing’s own Scuba Steve, cheering.
Shark fin soup is a renowned delicacy in Chinese cuisine – though one could argue that it's more as a pricey status symbol than for its flavor, which is non-existent. Though the perennial demand for the ingredient is considered one of the causes for the decline in shark populations, it is undeniably responsible for the practice of shark finning, which involves slicing the fin off the shark (often while it is still alive) and casting the animal back into the ocean.
The Chinese government is just the latest group to issue a ban on the soup. Back in January, the Shangri-La hotel group stopped serving shark fin; before that the Peninsula Hotel Group made a similar move. The act of shark finning was also recently banned in Taiwan.
The ban from Beijing, while laudable, may take as long as three years to go into effect. There are also questions about enforcement; if this ruling meets with the same lax compliance as Beijing's smoking ban, status-hungry dinner hosts will still be able to procure shark fin soup without much difficulty. Shark's fin is also used in traditional Chinese medicines, but has not been proven medically effective. (For more on the unethical use of animals in TCM, see the Ecology feature in our July issue.)
In response to the ban, Steve Schwankert, the founder of SinoScuba, Beijing's first professional dive operator and friend of the fishes, issued a statement:
I am happy to hear that China's State Council has announced it is taking such a positive step. Perhaps it will even consider accelerating its three-year timetable to reduce further the number of sharks that will be killed needlessly in the interim. This is an excellent example to set, and ... we hope now that private citizens will follow the government's lead.
At SinoScuba, we love sharks, and we are looking forward to more opportunities to educate the public about their importance to our oceans, including at SinoScuba Shark Weekend 2012, July 28-29.
For more information about the annual Shark Weekend (Jul 27-28) at the Blue Zoo Aquarium, please contact steven@sinoscuba.com or visit www.sinoscuba.com.
Photo: Nytimes.com
