A delicious bowl of species endangerment and cruelty (Image: avlxyz)
A couple weeks ago, the city of Brantford—yes, that Brantford—raised eyebrows when city councillors voted unanimously to ban all foods that include shark fin, making it the first city in Canada to outlaw the controversial ingredient. Although the city had a grand total of zero restaurants serving shark fin, the council intended the ban to act as a model for cities like Toronto, where shark fin can actually be found. Amazingly, it looks like it’s working.
Scarborough councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker will introduce a motion next week calling for a new bylaw to outlaw both the sale and the possession of shark fin in the city. The motion was supported by Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who admits that her decision may make some waves.
From CBC News:
“In order to do the right thing, even though it may make me an unpopular person in the Chinese community for a little while, I think it’s the direction that we should be going in,” she said.
“And I think that we should also be sending a message to our suppliers in the grocery stores and also a message to the restaurateurs that, you know, we will support you and will support ethical fishing.”
Soup made from shark fin is an important food item in traditional Chinese culture and is a fixture at wedding banquets and other significant events.
Wong-Tam said she used to eat the fins, but her family decided to stop consuming them 10 years ago after they decided that shark fishing was unsustainable.
Unsustainable, and pretty inhumane too—the roughly 73 million sharks finned each year are routinely thrown back in the ocean after their fins are sliced off, leaving them to die slowly. According to various marine conservation groups, an estimated one-third of the world’s shark species are in danger of extinction. If the bylaw is passed, something tells us that city council won’t exactly be laying out the welcome mats for Spinal Tap any time soon.
• Councillor moves to ban shark fin in Toronto [Toronto Star]
• Shark fin ban proposed for Toronto [CBC]
It’s about time !!
June 3, 2011 at 1:30 pm | by ndKWhat a silly thing to become a bylaw. Half of all sharks killed each year are caught accidentally in fishing gear intended for other fish, the kinds of fish we eat every day. There’s also many types of seafood that are unsustainable, not just shark fin. Are we going to pass bylaws on those too? Outlaw canned tuna? And yeah, it’s inhumane, but so is industrial chicken farming. But no councilor is stupid enough to waste taxpayer dollars to ban our quarter chicken dinners with dipping sauce. That just sounds ridiculous, but shark fin. Well…. that’s different!
June 4, 2011 at 12:29 am | by RandyReally Randy:
You should watch Sharkwater! Farming chickens grown for meat and ravashing the worlds oceans of shark the largest predetor fish are nowhere near the same thing. I for one think this is a great bylaw and shame on the Chinese for eating this part of a fish, that doesn’t even have flavor and no redeeming qualities (except for the bull that it is an aphrodisiac).So what is dumb is allowing this practice to go unchecked. The councillors have my support!
June 4, 2011 at 1:06 pm | by GingergirlGrowing chickens en masse in a tiny, crowded enclosed pen, jacked up on antibiotics, with no access to real sunlight for their short lifetime is inhumane. So is catching a giant shark, cutting off it’s fin, and tossing the carcass back into the sea. Both practices are inhumane, and quite similar because we treat both as a consumer commodity with no regard or respect for life.
Shame on the Chinese? It’s too easy to point the finger at one type cuisine. Many cultures around the world have some type of cruel, unsustainable food that is considered a delicacy. Why not bylaw those?
These bylaws don’t really do anything positive. The key lies in educating consumers about where their food came from and how it was raised, and then letting us make informed decisions with our dollars and cents.
Really Gingergirl?
June 4, 2011 at 3:13 pm | by RandySo Randy, let me get this straight — just because our society does more than one thing that is cruel and barbaric, that means that we should either stop them all, or do nothing about them all? That’s the worst logic I’ve ever heard.
June 5, 2011 at 10:47 am | by MichaelI support this ban, and I am from the Chinese community. A bylaw may not stop the practice completely, and certainly has little effect right now to the industry. But it raises awareness from a collective standpoint and pushes the issue further like a snow ball. When San Francisco decided to do it, it started creating waves over here. So hopefully this will raise the consciousness of the Chinese community, particularly the younger generation, that eating something of no nutritional value for pure social status symbol reasons that contributes to the extinction of a species is not a good thing.
June 5, 2011 at 1:58 pm | by ah123So Michael, I’ll straighten it out for you – I didn’t say we should stop all questionable practices or do nothing at all. I’m saying slapping a bylaw on one type of random inhumane treatment doesn’t solve the problem in our food system. It’s not the best course of action because it won’t really stop people from eating shark fin if they really want to. This is the kind of issue where a consumer needs to make an informed decision and choose not to purchase the product, a bylaw won’t do that. Yes, perhaps it raises awareness of sustainability and humane treatment. But seriously, do we as educated Canadians, need to only learn about something after it’s been banned by a small town that doesn’t consume it anyway?
How about this. Deloraine, Manitoba invokes a bylaw that all foods containing freshwater eel are illegal. Now everyone scramble to make it a bylaw in their own municipalities. Everyone stop eating unagi and support the bylaw. Is this really how it has to be learned?
June 5, 2011 at 3:06 pm | by RandyWhhaaaa lots of crying going on lately on the blog. Isn’t the reason why they eat the shark fin for longevity of life?
It sucks what they do to Sharks for this especially off the coast of S. Africa being most sharks are still young when they are caught. Since most Sharks need years to mature before giving birth this doesn’t help either.
June 6, 2011 at 10:12 am | by CulinerdThis is ridiculous. If I want a shark fin soup garnished with foie gras, horse sashimi and baby seal flipper than by god I have the right to eat it…and that’s not to say that I would. Personally I think the way shark fins are harvested is a disgrace. BUT, I don’t want some bureaucrat making that decision for me. Know your role. You’re there to serve the community, not dictate to it.
June 6, 2011 at 10:48 am | by sickofcupcakesBan Shark Fin!
June 6, 2011 at 10:56 am | by mattagascarLegalize Pot.
A shark fin ban? How puritanical can we get? Oh well most people probably haven’t had shark fin to begin with or real Chinese food for that matter. So who needs food from other cultures or food trucks or anything that dares to break from the monotony of our safe and coddled food, when there’s plump, juicy (sweatshop-raised) chicken wings at half price at Kelsey’s. I heard they pair excellently with Molson Canadian.
June 6, 2011 at 12:38 pm | by rodConsidering our insistence on subsidizing a money-losing and globally unpopular seal hunt, I don’t think we have a leg to stand on when it comes to lecturing other cultures on what they should and shouldn’t eat.
June 6, 2011 at 2:53 pm | by kpnIt is clear to all of us that it is not easy to please everyone and at the same time find a proper way to curtail inhumane animal practices (money and greed rule so rip poor animals unless someone figures how to save you). I tried shark fin soup at a lovely Chinese wedding b/c I had no idea about the controversy that surrounds it. I learned after a few of the tables, including mine, decided to protest the dish and not eat it. Don’t blame the Councillor. She is trying to do something about an issue she is passionate about. She really has no idea how to best handle this (neither do I) but at least she is doing something.
June 7, 2011 at 9:14 am | by NajmahLet’s focus on a humane & sustainable method of shark fin harvesting if that’s the only reason for the ban! I totally agree with Randy & sickofcupcakes on their thoughts. This proposed ban is nothing but a xenophobic reaction by its proponents. While we’re at it, let’s ban bluefin tuna, cod, harp seal products, all furs, foie gras, caviar & anything else that is potentially endangered or has been unethically collected.
June 7, 2011 at 10:04 am | by eatmeI believe we should consider bans on foods that are unethically harvested, or at least some kind of mass educational practice lead by the restaurants and businesses that sell these items, so that the consumer can know what it is they are supporting when they hand over their hard-earned cash. I have a feeling the general public doesn’t really know much about where their food comes from, and because of that most of us have fridges full of dishes that came neatly wrapped up at the suffering of another species. Same goes for our restaurant trips. I truly feel most people would not eat certain things if they knew where it came from. Trouble is, most of this information is not public knowledge. Shark fin soup is disgraceful and even if you don’t buy into the animal welfare part of things, consider it’s impact on the environment. Same goes for factory farmed fish, beef, chicken and dairy. Many can somehow turn a blind eye to the cruelties inflicted on the animals who then get served at restaurants, end up in fridges and canned goods in our pantrys, but you can’t argue the effect on global warming, depletion of the ozone and the breakdown of our ocean currents which inevitably sustain our home…the earth. Plus all these outbreaks of E. Coli and Salmonella??? They are coming from the run off of factory farms. Let’s go back to sustainable, cruelty free practices. Then all things…animals, people and the environment can benefit. If a ban is what’s needed to start these conversations, then I’m all for it.
June 7, 2011 at 1:08 pm | by 4animals