Hong Kong Shark Fin Traders Take to the Rooftops

January 7, 2013

By Deb Castellana/Mission Blue

 

With worldwide criticism against the shark fin trade growing, Hong Kong merchants have taken to the rooftops to minimize public exposure to this increasingly unpopular trade. Currently each fin can fetch up to $US 600 a pound, and a single bowl of shark fin soup can cost up to $US 175.

 

Mission Blue Board of Directors member Sharon Kwok brought a news team to the roof of an industrial building in Hong Kong to show us first-hand the magnitude of the number of sharks dying for human consumption. A longtime ocean advocate, Sharon was heavily involved in lobbying for the California ban from the beginning, and continues to work in Hong Kong and around the world for ocean protection. 

Previously set out to dry along city streets, negative public opinion about the shark fin trade forced traders to relocate to the more discreet location of rooftops.

Since the People’s Republic of China banned this delicacy at official banquets last summer, claims that laws protecting sharks discriminate against Chinese culture are becoming difficult to defend. Last week in California, a Federal judge dismissed the basis for a claim that the statewide ban signed into law in October 2011 was discriminatory against the Chinese culture, stating that there was no evidence whatsoever to this effect.

Across the world, Asians have rallied for sharks in growing numbers. The co-author of the California ban with Jared Huffman, Assemblyman Paul Fong was quoted as saying, “I urge those who opposed AB 376 to join the majority of Chinese Americans who are in strong support of protecting sharks and the ocean habitat.” Yao Ming generously lends his name to support shark fin bans across the world, and in July of 2011, 1000 kids joined Dr. Sylvia Earle in Hong Kong to take a pledge to never eat shark fin soup. And so, evidence that this is a matter of racial discrimination grows ever harder to find.

Chairman of the Shark Fin Trade Merchants Association, Ho Siu-chai said that the industry recorded a decrease in sales of 50% last year. “This is mainly due to the omnipresent advocacy by green groups.” This drop in demand has seen about 30 per cent of shark fin shops close down in recent years. Census and Statistics Department figures show that shark fin imports have reduced from 11,345 tons in 2011 to 3,403 tons for 2012.

Hong Kong is a hub for the global shark fin trade, taking in about half the world’s total fin harvest, says environmental group WWF.

Veteran trader Kwong Hung-kwan, owner of Shark’s Fin City in Sheung Wan, said “Nowadays, Hongkongers consume about 10 per cent of our imports,” he said. “The rest is shipped to China, the US, Canada and Malaysia for Chinese there to consume.” Fins now mainly come from the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan.

This dish is highly controversial because of the manner in which shark fins are often harvested and the precarious status of many shark populations. Clearly, in the case of the practice of shark-finning, in which fins are removed from live sharks, which are then returned defenseless to the sea, it is a matter of cruelty.

The global population of sharks, which are slow-growing and slow to reproduce, has declined significantly since commercial fishing began. Finning takes place off every the coast of every continent as well as on the high seas, particularly in poorer countries that do not have the resources to monitor and prosecute shark hunters.

Sharks have been swimming the oceans for hundreds of millions of years, helping to shape and maintain the balance of ocean ecosystems. They have survived the five great extinction events. For all of this time, sharks reigned as the top predators in the ocean. But now we have taken their place, and their numbers have fallen victim to industrial overfishing and shark finning practices.

Considering that sharks and other large predatory fish are at only 90% of their previous population levels, continued overconsumption of sharks threatens to inch many species of sharks ever closer to extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature says a third of all shark species are threatened with extinction.

With increasing numbers of countries declaring shark sanctuaries and marine protected areas, there is growing hope for sharks. Countries currently having anti shark finning laws include the US, Canada, Brazil, Namibia, South Africa and the European Union. Just last month, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands created adjacent shark sanctuaries spanning 2.5 million square miles of ocean, a move that reflects a growing trend to protect sharks worldwide and more than doubles the area now off-limits to all shark fishing.