Shark's fin soup, bear's paw, and other dishes taken off the menu for 2008 Olympics!

[Ninong]

From News From Beijing 2008:

Meanwhile certain food items that might “upset” foreigners are to be removed from restaurants ahead of the Beijing 2008 Games said state media Wednesday. The items include shark’s fin, swallow’s nest, bear’s paw, and snake.

The Xinhua News Agency quoted Xu Zhihong, a Beijing deputy to the National People’s Congress saying, “serving shark’s fin to foreign guests during the Olympic Games could greatly hurt China’s image and officials should start removing the dish from the dining tables right now. It is not only an environmental issue but one that has a direct bearing on the image of Chinese people”.

The agency said imports of shark’s fin has continued to rise in recent years despite campaigns to persuade Chinese people not to eat it. Xu said the dish is “quite often a must on local governments' reception menus”.

P.S. -- The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization estimated that 100 million sharks are caught annually, but some experts said they believe the true figure could be up to 200 million. Most sharks are caught solely for their fins and are dumped back into the sea to die once the fins have been hacked off.

[Genral72]

Honestly I don't have a problem with Shark fin soup. I do however have a huge problem with the way in which they obtain the fins. If they used the whole shark I wouldn't have a problem with it. Due to how they get the fins though I am all for the ban.

[Rossini]

Originally posted by Genral72
Honestly I don't have a problem with Shark fin soup. I do however have a huge problem with the way in which they obtain the fins. If they used the whole shark I wouldn't have a problem with it. Due to how they get the fins though I am all for the ban.

these beutifull animals are becoming very rare. due to overfishing. how the hell can you contemplate eating one?!

[Rossini]

Originally posted by Ninong
From News From Beijing 2008:

Meanwhile certain food items that might “upset” foreigners are to be removed from restaurants ahead of the Beijing 2008 Games said state media Wednesday. The items include shark’s fin, swallow’s nest, bear’s paw, and snake.

The Xinhua News Agency quoted Xu Zhihong, a Beijing deputy to the National People’s Congress saying, “serving shark’s fin to foreign guests during the Olympic Games could greatly hurt China’s image and officials should start removing the dish from the dining tables right now. It is not only an environmental issue but one that has a direct bearing on the image of Chinese people”.

The agency said imports of shark’s fin has continued to rise in recent years despite campaigns to persuade Chinese people not to eat it. Xu said the dish is “quite often a must on local governments' reception menus”.

P.S. -- The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization estimated that 100 million sharks are caught annually, but some experts said they believe the true figure could be up to 200 million. Most sharks are caught solely for their fins and are dumped back into the sea to die once the fins have been hacked off.

Too right!

I'm seriously profanity removed when I hear about what the chinese/jappenese are up to? They have some of the worst envronmental morals in the world! They need stopping!

In Indonesia large fish have become rare. Fish like Sharks,Napoleon wrasse,and groupers are being hunted to the point of local extinction! These fish fetch large sums of money in SE Asian fish markets,mostly China & Japan. They like to eat the lips of the Napoleon wrasse! There sick. One boat was caught off North Sulawesi poaching sharks for the shark fin soup trade,it was killing 250 sharks a month. just one boat!

Then you have the whaling.

And I was reading about China giving support for the the clearing of the last large tract of lowland rainforest in Borneo. Borneo has had its rainforest destroyed by 2/3. And now there on about clearing what they call the "heart of borneo" the last tract of lowland rainforest,which is mostly national park. figure that out?

I also saw something the other day abot how they had factorys producing plastics or some other industrial goods and it was polluting this big river. It showed the river,it was comlpletley lifeless,and people 100 miles downstream have been getting all sorts of diseases from the pollutiuon as they use the river for drinking,cooking,and washing. They dont even care about polluting there own people,so they certainly dont care about other country eco systems and wildlife.

There is so much dodgey stuff going on around the world,its really reaching breaking point now! It makes me so angry and upset.

[AC11337]

"I'm seriously profanity removed when I hear about what the chinese/jappenese are up to? They have some of the worst envronmental morals in the world! They need stopping!"

I say we go over there and stop them ourselves!!

JK

[virginiadiver69]

Originally posted by Genral72
If they used the whole shark I wouldn't have a problem with it. Due to how they get the fins though I am all for the ban.

Do you think that would reduce the #'s that would be taken? It is my general understanding that they are at risk of over fishing(I may be wrong).
Don't get me wrong, I like...no LOVE good sea food. I even enjoy milk fed veal in a nice cream sauce every now and then but after interacting with shark up close I personally think they are just to majestic to be on my plate.
Like stated above though, If their numbers are solid and they are taken responsibly I see no harm done.

[DgenR8]

If getting it to post means creative spelling or use of symbols, don't post it.

[Random Aquarist]

Why don't they just make shark farms? They could make more nutritious food and make a lot of money from selling them to other countries that would otherwise not buy sharks from them.

But, then again, it's just so much cheaper to just skip the feeding and maintenence costs.

Power and money have corrupted once again.

[macman7010]

Asian cultures, oddly enough have very little respect for the environment. They speak so highly about personal integrity and honor then go out and kill endangered species to fill their guts with. Personally their practices make me sick and the worse part is that what they do to the sea is only the tip of the iceberg.

I was reading that during past Olympic games the Chinese government fed their athletes Asian Sun Bear which is a tremendously endangered animal. Sadly we cannot police the world, though what we can do is be very vocal about how against their practices we are.

[tacocat]

Originally posted by Rossini
fish fetch large sums of money in SE Asian fish markets,mostly China & Japan. They like to eat the lips of the Napoleon wrasse! There sick. One boat was caught off North Sulawesi poaching sharks for the shark fin soup trade,it was killing 250 sharks a month. just one boat!

....And where does everyone think this money comes from???

Think about that next time you are comparing prices on items. I always try to purchase my products from US manufacturers or from countries with decent environmentals policies.

[Rossini]

Originally posted by tacocat
....And where does everyone think this money comes from???

Think about that next time you are comparing prices on items. I always try to purchase my products from US manufacturers or from countries with decent environmentals policies.

yeah I try. But nearly everything is made in china these days.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Everyone should see the documentary film, "Sharkwater". It'll disgust you, regarding the shark fin industry.

[motlot77]

i used to work for a chinese granite company (i'm not chinese) and let me tell ya, i've seen a lot of nasty things being consumed at that place.

one of the warehouse workers used to smile and laugh about eating bald eagle, cats, dogs, bear, basically anything that walked, crawled, flew, or slithered. oh we used to laugh and hoot, but little did he know i just wanted to wring his skinnly little neck.

ah, brings back memories...the best is lunchtime when the large tupperware bucket of duck feet (yes, only the feet) are heating up in the microwave...mmm, oily, hairy duckfeet.

[BCreefmaker]

i was pretty hungry until that last post

[iCam]

Different cultures have different food taboos, and then again what is "suitable for consumption".

Some common (to the US) foods like beef are appalling in other parts of the world.

I don't see the problem with eating these animals, I don't, however, agree with practices such as those used to collect the shark fins.

For what it's worth, Japan actually has had many ecologically sound methods of forestry, fishing, farming, et cetera.

If you want some bad practices, think of California and the past demolition of forests and flattening of the topography for more housing developments as well.

[rackfokus]

Someone should invent the synthetic shark fin. Much like the garden burger only more flippery...

[scottras]

Originally posted by rackfokus
Someone should invent the synthetic shark fin. Much like the garden burger only more flippery...

Just make one out of tofu.

[scottras]

Originally posted by Rossini
Too right!

I'm seriously profanity removed when I hear about what the chinese/jappenese are up to? They have some of the worst envronmental morals in the world! They need stopping!

In Indonesia large fish have become rare. Fish like Sharks,Napoleon wrasse,and groupers are being hunted to the point of local extinction! These fish fetch large sums of money in SE Asian fish markets,mostly China & Japan. They like to eat the lips of the Napoleon wrasse! There sick. One boat was caught off North Sulawesi poaching sharks for the shark fin soup trade,it was killing 250 sharks a month. just one boat!

Then you have the whaling.

And I was reading about China giving support for the the clearing of the last large tract of lowland rainforest in Borneo. Borneo has had its rainforest destroyed by 2/3. And now there on about clearing what they call the "heart of borneo" the last tract of lowland rainforest,which is mostly national park. figure that out?

I also saw something the other day abot how they had factorys producing plastics or some other industrial goods and it was polluting this big river. It showed the river,it was comlpletley lifeless,and people 100 miles downstream have been getting all sorts of diseases from the pollutiuon as they use the river for drinking,cooking,and washing. They dont even care about polluting there own people,so they certainly dont care about other country eco systems and wildlife.

There is so much dodgey stuff going on around the world,its really reaching breaking point now! It makes me so angry and upset.

Many western countries are guilty of the same thing. Although you could say to a much greater extent.

[Genral72]

Originally posted by virginiadiver69
Do you think that would reduce the #'s that would be taken? It is my general understanding that they are at risk of over fishing(I may be wrong).
Don't get me wrong, I like...no LOVE good sea food. I even enjoy milk fed veal in a nice cream sauce every now and then but after interacting with shark up close I personally think they are just to majestic to be on my plate.
Like stated above though, If their numbers are solid and they are taken responsibly I see no harm done.

The problem with Shark fin soup is that they take just the fins and throw the rest in the water. It's wasteful and there is no need for it. If they did take the whole shark they would have to process the whole thing and that would mean $$. Think how much they would simply be able to get. I mean its not cheap to run those boats and if they can only hold 10% the amount of fins they could hold before that would mean way less profit. If they had a lot less profit than it would be a lot less desirable to fish them and few people would.