6 Pectoral Fins Per 20 Tables HK Consumed 4469 tons Last Year
Green Sense Major Campaign on Wedding Expo
Shark fins are common in Chinese Wedding menu. Because of years of high demand and overfishing, many species of sharks are threatened with extinction. Since there are numerous couples married every year, wedding banquets have become the rendezvous for huge consumption of shark fins. We hope that every couple preserves sharks while sharing the joyful moment with friends and relatives so that their number can be stabilized and sustained. .
Green Sense holds a campaign which advocates “Happy Wedding, Saves Sharks” near the exhibition venue of the Hong Kong Wedding Banquet and Accessories EXPO 2010 at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on today and tomorrow (6th and 7th November, 2010). We wish couples could make an informed choice during their wedding banquet with the knowledge of the ecological and humanitarian problems caused by consumption of shark fins.
According to Census and Statistics Department, there were 4,460 tons of shark fin products imported amounting to HK$1.3 billion in 2009. Yet another 4,935 tons of shark fin products valued at about HK$620 million were re-exported. The figures clearly show that millions of sharks are killed every year and the amount of various species of sharks is seriously depleted. Because of the lucrative profits,not only are there massive killings of sharks but also inhumane and cruel catching.
In 1996, only 15 species of sharks in the world were threatened. Today, the figure has significantly increased eight-fold over the past decade. Currently, there are over 120 species of sharks threatened according to IUCN Red List. The huge demand of consumption by human being is pushing for its extinction.
We, Green Sense, sincerely urge couples choosing sustainable alternatives for shark fins. We have enquired most Chinese restaurant corporate and hotels and they all can change wedding menu according to consumers’ needs and preference, for example, by replacing shark fin soup with birds’ nest soup, seafood soup or vegetarian shark fin soup. These substitutes not only preserve the ecology but also maintain a grand and elegant wedding banquet.
Apart from having substitutes for shark fins, couples could also save water by communication with the hotels. There is a recent trend in Chinese wedding banquet that plates are replaced and changed per dish. This practice is also known as ‘meals for the disabled’. The amount of plates to be washed is multiplied because of the practice, wasting significant amount of water and aggravating the water pollution problem. We, Green Sense, wish couples could consider not serving ‘meals for the disabled’ in their wedding banquet.
* All words and expressions should be construed according to the press release in Chinese.
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