Posted Jul 27 2012

So should we allow the slaughter of cats and dogs? That too is a Chinese tradition. Funny, I didn't know that my support against shark fin and in favor of the ban was due to my racism. I thought it was just the humane thing to do. But heck thanks for pointing out the real reason people have for making this illegal. Not compassion but racism. I look forward to you helping to lift the ban on puppy soup. Delicious!

Posted Jul 27 2012

So should we allow the slaughter of cats and dogs? That too is a Chinese tradition. Funny, I didn't know that my support against shark fin and in favor of the ban was due to my racism. I thought it was just the humane thing to do. But heck thanks for pointing out the real reason people have for making this illegal. Not compassion but racism. I look forward to you helping to lift the ban on puppy soup. Delicious!

Posted Jul 27 2012

I just returned from Asia exploring this in person. Saying shark fin soup is a tradition is a bold faced lie. The Emperors (Cantonese) and royalty ate exotic animals to gain their power. It was for rare cuisine even for them. Now with the Asian economic growth, and Cantonese culture being "Fashionable", more and more Asian could afford to mimic the lifestyle calling it cultural.
Shark Fin Soup is a FASHION... not a TRADITION. Anyone saying otherwise is a liar.

Posted Jul 27 2012

As a Chinese-American who does not care whether the ban is upheld or overturned, I must admit that the wording of the bill does make it racist since; to my knowledge, only the Chinese community eats shark fins. I agree with Mr. Lee that if the bill really wanted to save the world's dwindling shark population, it would outlaw the consumption of shark completely. How can we save sharks if they can still be caught and killed for their meat?

Posted Jul 27 2012

As a Chinese-American who does not care whether the ban is upheld or overturned, I must admit that the wording of the bill does make it racist since; to my knowledge, only the Chinese community eats shark fins. I agree with Mr. Lee that if the bill really wanted to save the world's dwindling shark population, it would outlaw the consumption of shark completely. How can we save sharks if they can still be caught and killed for their meat?

Posted Jul 27 2012

As a Chinese-American who does not care whether the ban is upheld or overturned, I must admit that the wording of the bill does make it racist since; to my knowledge, only the Chinese community eats shark fins. I agree with Mr. Lee that if the bill really wanted to save the world's dwindling shark population, it would outlaw the consumption of shark completely. How can we save sharks if they can still be caught and killed for their meat?

In response to the earlier comments; the eating of cats and dogs is not a tradition. In your anger, you have not done your research and made some racist comments. Cat and dog meat was a food of necessity. Only the poor ate these animals to survive and very few villages still continue to do so. As to the other comment; yes shark fins are fashion, but they have become tradition. As stated in the article, the Chinese community only eat shark fins on special occasions. It is part of the culture because there is access to the product. If you want to blame someone, then look at China where they serve to fins on almost a daily basis to tourists.

Posted Jul 27 2012

Sorry for the spam, but the site was acting funny

As a Chinese-American who does not care whether the ban is upheld or overturned, I must admit that the wording of the bill does make it racist since; to my knowledge, only the Chinese community eats shark fins. I agree with Mr. Lee that if the bill really wanted to save the world's dwindling shark population, it would outlaw the consumption of shark completely. How can we save sharks if they can still be caught and killed for their meat?

In response to the earlier comments; the eating of cats and dogs is not a tradition. In your anger, you have not done your research and made some racist comments. Cat and dog meat was a food of necessity. Only the poor ate these animals to survive and very few villages still continue to do so. As to the other comment; yes shark fins are fashion, but they have become tradition. As stated in the article, the Chinese community only eat shark fins on special occasions. It is part of the culture because there is access to the product. If you want to blame someone, then look at China where they serve to fins on almost a daily basis to tourists.

Posted Jul 27 2012

This Act signed into law by Governor Brown last October, makes the trade, sale or possession of shark fins illegal. Shark fins are used for the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. Consumed at business functions, weddings and other celebrations, the popularity of the soup has lead to a bounty on shark fins all over the world, leading to the killing of shark solely for their fins.

Illegal in the US and a handful of other countries, shark finning is the practice of catching sharks for their fins, and discarding the shark’s body back into the ocean.

Opponents to the ban deny scientists and environmental group’s claim that tens of millions of sharks are killed each year to support the shark fin trade. They even deny that shark finning exists.

The opponents claim the law is discriminatory and that banning only 5 percent of the shark is a waste. However, relative to the demand for fins, shark meat is in very low demand, is generally unpalatable and the cost of the meat is a fraction of the fin.

Shark fins are imported, therefore there is no domestic fishery for shark fin. Import records indicate that tons of shark fins have moved through California ports each year thereby supporting the shark fin industry and threatening the health of our oceans.

A new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts Environmental Group indicates that over 20 million pounds of shark fins and shark fin-based products were imported into Hong Kong in 2011. Because so much of the shark trade is illegal and carried out on the high seas and in the black market, the true number of sharks killed each year is impossible to ascertain and may be as high as 100 million per year. We are fishing our oceans out of sharks to support an unsustainable delicacy.

Although not one business has failed since the ban, the suit makes unsupportable claims that merchants are losing approximately $40 million of business and a loss of 300 jobs throughout California. The only businesses losing money are the importers of fins from countries like Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador where sharks are finned illegally.

The plaintiffs can produce no science or fisheries reports to substantiate their denial that sharks are finned or overfished so they fall back on claims of racism and discrimination. But this argument does not hold water.

A poll held by the Monterey Bay Aquarium found that 76 percent of all voters and 70 percent of Chinese-Americans support the shark fin ban. The bill passed unanimously with bipartisan support in Assembly policy committees and is heading to an Assembly floor vote in the near future.

In fact, AB 376 was sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Fong (D. Cupertino), himself a Chinese American, and supported by thousands of Chinese Americans, including the Asian Pacific Ocean Harmony Alliance in San Francisco. These Americans recognize that sharks are critical for maintaining the health and balance in ocean ecosystems and are being fished out to provide an unneeded luxury. We have altered other American cultural practices deemed cruel or unsustainable, like Foie gras, Beluga Caviar, or elephant ivory. The Chinese American community is recognizing that shark fin is not a sustainable cultural dish.

Shark Stewards call on the California Supreme court to reject these spurious claims of racism by self-interested business groups and uphold a law that supports sustainable fishing, and the health of our common ocean.

Posted Jul 27 2012

So should we allow the slaughter of cats and dogs? That too is a Chinese tradition. Funny, I didn't know that my support against shark fin and in favor of the ban was due to my racism. I thought it was just the humane thing to do. But heck thanks for pointing out the real reason people have for making this illegal. Not compassion but racism. I look forward to you helping to lift the ban on puppy soup. Delicious!

Posted Jul 29 2012

I'm getting awfully tired of folks with vested financial interests playing "the race card" to defend an unethical, cruel and unsustainable commercial practice. We're on the verge of losing an entire family of animals for soup and superstition. I grew up in the South (back when it was solid Democratic), so I know "racism" when I see it. This ain't it.

The same folks played the same game re the turtles and frogs in the state's many live animal food markets.

So let's cut the crap and protect the sharks and the marine environment. Perhaps Assemblymember Fong should consider amending the state law so as to prohibit the take of ALL sharks for any purpose whatsoever. Would that make the shark fin proponents happy?

Sincerely,
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland