When I was a child, I loved attending wedding banquets. I was always in awe of the bride who adorned such beautiful dresses, the opulent decor, and especially the food that was served. A Chinese wedding banquet dinner consisted of 8 to 10 courses that represented the best of Chinese culinary arts. The first course was usually a delicious assorted cold plate platter followed by prawn paste wrapped around a crab claw. There would also be lobster, broccoli with sea cucumber, crispy chicken, and the lucky “yee mein”. My favorite course, however, was shark fin soup.
I loved shark fin soup and it was the dish that I looked forward to the most at these wedding banquets. The thickness of the broth, its aromatic flavour with dried scallop, and the rarity of experiencing such an expensive dish meant I purposely took my time when it came to consuming the soup – slowly savouring every spoonful and not realizing that every spoonful was a crime in itself.
As a child, my only thoughts on sharks were that they were scary and would eat me given the opportunity. Thus, why should I care that I’m eating them? It’s better them than me that’s getting ingested. Yet, as I grew older, my opinions were no longer so black and white. The first time I felt ashamed for enjoying shark fin soup was in 11th grade when a classmate explained to me how sharks were finned in explicit details. He told me about how fishermen would capture the shark, bring it on board, cut the fins off, and dump the rest of the shark back into the water. The shark, which is still alive, sinks to the bottom of the ocean and suffers an inhumane and in a way, a humiliating death. After he finished his story, he warned me not to eat any shark fin soup and I brushed him off since I was never the one who ordered the shark fin soup at wedding banquets or fancy dinners with my family. If everyone else wanted it and the shark fin soup has already been prepared, what can I really do for the shark that was in my dinner bowl?
Despite this naive and somewhat irresponsible mentality, the chance of consuming shark fin soup became rarer and I was secretly glad about it. My brother went through a shark obsession and despised the brutality that humans committed on sharks, which had a deeper influence on me in making an active decision to not consume shark fin soup. It was not until last night after watching Planet in Peril, which did a segment on shark finning, that I’ve decided to not only never consume shark fin soup again, but I will make it point to tell others that they should not do the same. Hearing about the inhumane methods of shark finners were one thing, but seeing it is a completely different experience.
Witnessing the fishermen slicing the fins off the struggling shark and then pushing the finless shark back into the ocean, so it can sink to the bottom to suffer a slow and painful death brought tears to my eyes. I just could not fathom how someone can treat another living thing with such cruelty. After watching the segment on shark finning, I looked for more information on shark finning and this is what I found:
- Shark specialists estimate that up to 100 million sharks are killed annually (and often illegally) for just their fins.
- Any shark is taken regardless of size, age, or species.
- Shark finning has increased dramatically over the last 10 years as a result of higher demand, improved fishing technology and improved market economics.
- Loss of sharks threatens the stability of marine ecosystems.
- The demand for shark fins mainly comes from Asia which want it for shark fin soup and traditional cures.
There are quite a few conservation programs and non-profit groups trying to reduce global threats to shark populations and promote greater awareness on the plight of the sharks. For those who are not affiliated with these organization but want to be active, I encourage you to not consume any shark fin soup or shark fin remedies, and also to discuss shark finning with people. As long as we talk about, it will garner greater awareness which may translate into fewer consumption of shark fin and thus, less demand for it.
Here are a few websites to check out for more information:
www.wildaid.org
www.sharktrust.org
www.seashepherd.org
www.sharkwater.com
Let’s stop shark finning now!
