Disgusting
THE Hong Kong Marine Conservation Society works hard to promote marine environmental awareness within Hong Kong and we hope that this message is transported to other countries in the region.
Unfortunately China Airlines of Taiwan appears to be unconcerned about the conservation of our aquatic realm.
In a recent article in its inflight magazine entitled ''The 'Coral Kingdom' of Taiwan'', it talks in glowing terms of the coral jewellery and ornament trade in Taiwan.
Whilst acknowledging that corals are slow growing and their population is believed to have been depleted to one tenth of what it was 10 years ago, the article concludes by stating, '' . . . with creative designs and more reasonable prices, people from places like Italy and Japan come to Taiwan to look for coral jewellery. Thus some coral dealers now encourage carvers to be creative with their designs, making Taiwan, once again, the 'coral kingdom'. '' Our society finds the killing of these beautiful animals to create jewellery from their skeletons, abhorrent. I hope that Italians and Japanese do not visit Taiwan for this purpose, and perhaps we should all consider whether we wish to fly anywhere with an airline which apparently endorses this disgusting trade.
IAN THOMAS Secretary Hong Kong Marine Conservation Society
