Say no to shark fin soup

September 25, 2011

In a handout picture released by WildAid on September 22, 2011 Chinese basketball star Yao Ming (R) and British entrepreneur Richard Branson (L) attend the launch of a new campaign to urge Chinese diners to take the delicacy shark fin off the dining table in Shanghai on September 22, 2011. The campaign, launched in Shanghai, includes public service ads by the two and an outlet for people to make an on-line pledge to stop eating shark fin soup, said the organiser, international conservation group WildAid. AFP pic/WildAid
SHANGHAI, Sept 25 Basketball star Yao Ming and British entrepreneur Richard Branson recently launched a campaign urging Chinese to stop eating shark fin soup to help save the predators.

Shark fins are used in a thick soup that is viewed as a delicacy by Chinese people and served at luxury restaurants in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The method of shark-finning slicing off the fins of live animals and then throwing them back in the water to die is condemned by animal rights campaigners and blamed by scientists for a worldwide collapse in populations.

The campaign, launched in Shanghai, includes advertisements featuring the two celebrities and a website for people to make an online pledge to stop eating the soup, said the organiser, international conservation group WildAid.

Yao, who retired from the sport in July but remains one of Chinas biggest sporting names, made a pledge to stop eating shark fin soup five years ago and has since served as an ambassador for WildAid, the group said in a statement.

Branson is backing the campaign through his non-profit foundation Virgin Unite.

I simply cannot imagine a world without sharks we must not let this happen, he said in the statement.

WildAid, which seeks to halt the trade in wildlife, estimates up to 73 million sharks are harvested annually, ma! inly for shark fin soup.

The ongoing and increasing demand for shark fin is holding many species on the brink of extinction, further threatening marine ecosystems the world over, it said.

Earlier this year, a member of Chinas parliament proposed a ban on the trade in shark fins.

Ding Liguo, a businessman delegate to the National Peoples Congress, said China should lead the world in banning the trade since 95 per cent of shark fin is consumed in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. AFP


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