# Shark fin ban



## stratos (Apr 21, 2010)

Sounds like the time has come to locally ban shark fins, used mostly in soup:

Push to ban shark fins in Richmond - News1130


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I played a video game called Scarface where you cut the fin off, threw the rest of the shark away and used it to supply people as an ingredient for soup, just to make money. I didn't know this was a partial reality until just now.


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## joker1535 (May 23, 2010)

Its about time. Gruesome what they do to those sharks for some soup.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

And the thing is, the shark fin has almost no flavour itself. It's all a cultural-traditional superstition/dumb idea that some members of our family has already "banned" for a while. Bird's nest or fish maw soup, now that's delish:bigsmile: AKA bird spit soup or fish swim bladder soup.


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## sarcastickitten (May 26, 2012)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> And the thing is, the shark fin has almost no flavour itself. It's all a cultural-traditional superstition/dumb idea that some members of our family has already "banned" for a while. Bird's nest or fish maw soup, now that's delish:bigsmile: AKA bird spit soup or fish swim bladder soup.


wow you make that sound so delish... I have never heard them described quite like that before... lol

I think this shark fin soup ban is just like the ivory ban in Africa and other parts... were they only use one part f the animal and then discard the rest of the animal in waste or leave it alive to slowly die and be picked on by predators... Very cruel and unfair for the animals..

I must now state that I am not an animal rights activist or extremist, I have my faults as we all do, but there are somethings that are just so wrong... I didn't know what happened to the rest of the shark until I was in high school doing a project on my heritage.. I understand the tradition behind it and have even eaten it myself on a couple of occasions before I learned the fate of the shark...

I am now, strictly a bird's nest soup person


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

*Should not be allowed!!!!*

What a disgusting tradition at the expense of the sharks, IT'S JUST WRONG!!


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

It is not tradition! that is what people do not understand. it is a simple of wealth, nothing more. Coming from many friends i have that are from mainland china and hong kong, status is everything in their community, so to eat sharkfin soup means you appear to be rich to others.

it is like the french saying Foie gras is their traditional food.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

It is a tradition dating back to the Sung Dynasty Emperor & that tradition is that it is a status symbol (i.e. traditionally served at weddings to symbolize wealth and respect). 

It's a stupid & extremely cruel & wasteful tradition, I totally agree. We actually had this discussion at the last family dinner with my in-laws. Most of us are against it, especially my generation and younger. I personally prefer fish maw soup myself, which uses a part of the fish that most cultures throw away (whoever thought of cooking and eating swim bladders was a mad genius:bigsmile 

We had the choice of soups at our wedding and I insisted on Fish Maw even though I know some of the older relatives would prefer the higher "status" sharks fin soup. I've never ordered it myself and would not allow it at MY wedding (10 years ago).

Anthony


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

good on you anthony, coming from an Italian culture, relatives can be quite insulted if certain foods expected are not provided. not only that, they take it as a personal attack on themselves rather than someones preference they don't agree with


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## BCAquaria (Apr 24, 2010)

I've had it once for one big banquet dinner. Gotta admit, it's actually pretty gross.

Bland, mushy, tasteless.... Never understood the asian infactuation with it.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I think it is inhuman if they cut off the fin and just let the fish die. 
I believe law can be passed to demand that the dead bodies of the sharks have to accompany the fins when the ship docks, think in some parts of the US that is what they do. Most sharks are not endangered and fishmen are allowed to catch and kill them. 
Just hope this will not turn into an racial attack on Chinese culture/tradition.
From what I understand, facts are not all shark fins were obtained the same way, not all Chinese love shark fin soups (and for thgose who love it, not all drink it to show off--I know some do for the taste and texture; not because of status or wealth), not all shark fin fishermen are Chinese, and not all shark fins are consumed by Chinese (e.g Japanese).
I am not trying to say it is right, just trying to put things in prespective.
Thank you.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

neven said:


> It is not tradition! that is what people do not understand. it is a simple of wealth, nothing more. Coming from many friends i have that are from mainland china and hong kong, status is everything in their community, so to eat sharkfin soup means you appear to be rich to others.
> 
> it is like the french saying Foie gras is their traditional food.


Why not just flash a big wod of money to appear rich to others, then nobody gets hurt. My comment of digusting is towards the method of dismembering the shark, and no disrespect to any nationality is intended by me. It is what it is "DISGUSTING". Sorry if I offended anyone.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

The Guy said:


> Why not just flash a big wod of money to appear rich to others, then nobody gets hurt. My comment of digusting is towards the method of dismembering the shark, and no disrespect to any nationality is intended by me. It is what it is "DISGUSTING". Sorry if I offended anyone.


Too late. I'm Chinese and I'm offended.

J.K.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

*Yaa - Eh !*

:lol: I do like clam chowder eh!


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

My girl is from Hong Kong and absolutely hates the idea.But I do love tripe,tendon and anything that most westerners find weird.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't find it weird, I eat snails with butter and glaric. and I'm not even french...

I just rather go the Inuit route if they're going to kill sharks, eat everything, let nothing to waste.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

There is some weird stuff though. In Japan I had chicken sushi,raw pork liver,snake blood shots and sea pineapple. None I would try again,except for the shots.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I've seen rattle snakes be drained and then have the blood as shots. I'd try it, but really can't see appreciating the iron taste to it. Liver, no thanks, way too much Fe for me.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

effox said:


> I don't find it weird, I eat snails with butter and glaric. and I'm not even french...
> 
> I just rather go the Inuit route if they're going to kill sharks, eat everything, let nothing to waste.


Yup, I'm good with that as well. It's no different than when we eat beef, pork or chicken is it.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

The Guy said:


> Yup, I'm good with that as well. It's no different than when we eat beef, pork or chicken is it.


Except that sharks are not raised in captivity for this purpose. I agree that Shark finning is an awful tradition, beyond wasteful and a huge problem. Banning it unfortunately will only raise prices and increase demand for it. The harder something is to get, the more people want it.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I have to agree with Grant's comment. Banning it won't do any good. It just makes it more expensive and will probably end up doing the exact opposite for sharks. With the higher prices, you'll have more sharks killed for fins than ever. Education of why people shouldn't consume shark fin is the way to go. I'm Chinese and I know the younger generation already don't eat it much and not because of price. I think given time, the shark fin trade will fizzle out as the generation that value it will be gone.



Rastapus said:


> Except that sharks are not raised in captivity for this purpose. I agree that Shark finning is an awful tradition, beyond wasteful and a huge problem. Banning it unfortunately will only raise prices and increase demand for it. The harder something is to get, the more people want it.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> I have to agree with Grant's comment. Banning it won't do any good. It just makes it more expensive and will probably end up doing the exact opposite for sharks. With the higher prices, you'll have more sharks killed for fins than ever. Education of why people shouldn't consume shark fin is the way to go. I'm Chinese and I know the younger generation already don't eat it much and not because of price. I think given time, the shark fin trade will fizzle out as the generation that value it will be gone.


Agreed and a good point, not sure if the shark population will last long enough to see that unfortunately.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Shark fin are not obtained in Canadian water so banning them in Canada will not stop this trade. Our government has no right or power to demand people living in other countries what they can or cannot eat. So, they can only try to ban it in small regions within Canada but this does not serve to stop the practice at all. I know this is not the original intention but this may spark yet another racial attack toward Chinese heritage and traditional--some of which unfortunately are not based on facts. 
Like I said, not only Chinese people consume shark fin, not all shark fins are obtained the same way, and not all shark fins are harvested by Chinese. 
This is not the same as ivory ban. Ivory ban is about preserving an endangered species but banning shark fin is more about the government trying to stop people from eating a particular kind of food based on how the food was believed to have be obtained. Most sharks are not an endangered species.With all due respect to the animal right activists, many animals are killed in a rather inhuman manner. I think hunting a moose and use its meat as humburger patty or killing a seal with a club for its skin and meat, or roasting a skinned rabbit and serving it as a fine dinning item is barbaric but some people like that kind of thing and I respect that. If we start stopping people from eating a certain food becauee we do not like how the food was obtained, where do we draw the line?
By the way, not only shark fin are prized when a shark is killed, shark skin for example is also considered as being very precious and sort after. People from all different cultrues use leather product made by shark skin. So, sharks are not only killed for its fins. 
If a shark is killed first then its fin taken away it sounds like a lot of people are okay with that. That being the case, if we are concerned about the inhumane practise of letting a shark die without its fins, should we instead place a restriction on the source of imported shark fin such as how it was obtained rather than banning it altogether.
Lastly, shark fin soups may taste bad for some people as tatse is a very personal thing but to say it is consumed "solely" as a symbol of status is wrong. Shark fin has a unique texture which when complimented with a well prepared soup is very tasty to a lot of people.
Japanese also eat shark fin. They like it becuase of its unique texture. It is usually served mixed with seaweed and other condiments in sushi
For the record, I do not eat shark fin, and I agree totoally then it is sick to cut off a shark's fin to let it die. 
Thank you.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Fish rookie said:


> Shark fin are not obtained in Canadian water so banning them in Canada will not stop this trade. Our government has no right or power to demand people living in other countries what they can or cannot eat. So, they can only try to ban it in small regions within Canada but this does not serve to stop the practice at all. I know this is not the original intention but this may spark yet another racial attack toward Chinese heritage and traditional--some of which unfortunately are not based on facts.
> Like I said, not only Chinese people consume shark fin, not all shark fins are obtained the same way, and not all shark fins are harvested by Chinese.
> This is not the same as ivory ban. Ivory ban is about preserving an endangered species but banning shark fin is more about the government trying to stop people from eating a particular kind of food based on how the food was believed to have be obtained. Most sharks are not an endangered species.With all due respect to the animal right activists, many animals are killed in a rather inhuman manner. I think hunting a moose and use its meat as humburger patty or killing a seal with a club for its skin and meat, or roasting a skinned rabbit and serving it as a fine dinning item is barbaric but some people like that kind of thing and I respect that. If we start stopping people from eating a certain food becauee we do not like how the food was obtained, where do we draw the line?
> By the way, not only shark fin are prized when a shark is killed, shark skin for example is also considered as being very precious and sort after. People from all different cultrues use leather product made by shark skin. So, sharks are not only killed for its fins.
> ...


Actually, sharks are under threat worldwide, this is due to many reasons but a big one is the shark fin trade. There has been many documentaries recently, one by a Canadian, profiling the destructive nature of this trade. Sharks are a top predator, with shark populations dropping it puts the oceans at risk of a major imbalance. Many regions have made it illegal to fish for shark, also for this reason. 
Shark Fin banning is motivated by the senseless slaughter of sharks just for the fins and in such high quantity. Although I applaude the effort made by people to ban the selling of it, as stated previously it will just increase black market sales and likely wont decrease the consumption. Shark Fin is very expensive now, as are Bear's organs etc, which are illegal, pretty sure one can still find them.


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Fish Rookie, BC waters used to hold tons of dog shark. Now it is incredibly rare to catch one, even in remote locations. It is all due to overfishing. There were never any regulations in place to limit the fishing of shark, and even sport fishermen used to kill them as a bycatch because of how much a nuisance they were. Now they just never catch them at all. There was a huge commercial fishing market for them and the commercial fishermen went to town. Now that fishery has collapsed, and the government is reacting by adopting tighter rules.


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## J'sRacing (Apr 25, 2012)

BCAquaria said:


> I've had it once for one big banquet dinner. Gotta admit, it's actually pretty gross.
> 
> Bland, mushy, tasteless.... Never understood the asian infactuation with it.


You must of went to a really crappy restaurant, shark fin is bland by itself, but when made with good accompanying materials the flavour is absorbed into the fin. Secondly, whoever made yours mushy, failed badly. As for tasteless, well we already went over that.

I'm not for eating sharkfins or against.

Sidenote Shark Soup is pretty good. My father and i went over to the island a few weeks ago for some fishing and caught a shark. The soup was fantastic!


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Thank you Grany and DBam, I was not aware that shark is on the endangered list. 

Seeing that one can buy sharks in a store (both as food and as pets) it is kind of confusing if it is an endangered fish.

Most people are against cutting off the fin and letting the shark die on its own--not the killing of shark--when they advocate banning shark fin import and sales. 

Most people are of the opinion, at least from how I understand it, that if the fin is obtained after the shark is killed then it is fine. The argument is about cutting off the fin off a shark and just letting it die by itself in the ocean being inhuman. If it is on the endangered list then the federal government can just ban fin import simply for this reason (like they do with ivory or real lizard skin or things like that) but that is not what they are doing.

If shark is not on the endangered list then the issue becomes a bit complicated as many animal products are obtained via inhuman practices so are we going to ban them all? If not, why one and not the other would be the challenge.

I also do not understand how a municiple government (i.e. City of Richmond) is responsible/able to police shark fin trade which is an international matter, shouldn't that be the job of the federal government?

I can see banning shark fin may cost some people loss of jobs/income. If we allow shark fin trade while emphasising on education and also to have a policy in place to monitor how the imported fins are obtained and only the kind that are cut off from an already dead shark is allowed then perhaps it would cost less damage to our economy and be more effective in saving sharks in the long run.

Lastly, I just want to say I really do not wish to see this become a thread about how ALL Chinese people like to show off so they eat this tasteless 
food that is obtained through a barbaric means just to show off as it would unnecessarily sterotype and attack all Chinese people. 

I am not a big fan of shark fin myself but I have eaten my fair share, mostly in weddings and big dinners. I do not mind if I can not have another bowl of shark fin the rest of my life. I personally do nto want to support killing sharks by cutting off their fins to let them die on their own so if that is the only way I can have a bowl of shark fin I would rather not. However, i am not sure banning it is the right thing to do for all the resasons I have stated.

I do nto wish to see shark being killed the way they are now, and I agree that leaving the shark to die under water without fin is very cruel and should not be encouraged. Therefore, I do not feel that we are really dsiagreeing on the major issues. Having said that, is it going to be effective as far as saving sharks are concerned to spend tax payer's money and cost loss of income to impose such a ban in the city of Richmond? I am not sure.

Thank you.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Hmmm why isn't there a federal ban? in the years that it has been in the forefront of media attention, the government in power has been one of that puts those of affluent interests first. Banning shark fin soup would be a serious blow to their party's support. Well it may be true that the issue is international, but that doesn't limit what they can do. I agree that banning fuels the black market, i still think it will have a positive impact. many restaurants will outright stop selling it, many people actually obey the laws, and it will drive the cost locally up, putting it further out of reach for more people. Businesses who violate the bylaws and laws should have their licenses revoked. As for their right to do so? they have any right to impose bylaws on businesses operating in their jurisdiction as long as the limits do not violate canadian law. Just like with Dolphin meat consumption in japan, shark finning needs to become a focal point by other governments to shame those governments that support them. Just like dolphin, shark is toxic to humans, which is another reason a municipal government has a right to make it illegal. While i disagree with eating the top tiered creatures of our ocean, i understand that baby steps must be made, so for sharks, finning is the major reason for hunting, curb that and demand drops. The lower Mainland is a small market, but its still a market that wont be as profitable as before.

As for taste, the point people make is the shark fin itself is useless as a flavour, there are plenty of other foods out there with similar texture (and often a lot more appetizing textures) that will easily be infused with other flavours. It is not unique, its just like i said, people wanting to feel like they are rich, are rich, or doing it because its simply frowned upon now.

Another point to consider is that we are a forum based on hobbyists who keep fish, some even keep species only sustained because of aquariums, and many others are advocates thanks to the hobby we love. This should be a no brainer. Sharks are needed, soup with their fins are not. Culture or Tradition or delicacies do not trump the need for sustainability.


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

Even Gordon Ramsay says it tastes like...well you can imagine what words he would use. It's honestly a ridiculous food and sharks are very important to the environment to be killed in such a way. You got to ports where they harvest them and you see thousands upon thousands of shark carcasses with their fins chopped off and their body just rotting in the heat. Sharks also reproduce at a very slow rate...I believe most sharks only give birth to 1-2 offspring a year, not all of which make it to adulthood. Not to mention the stigma people have of them being brutal killers.


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