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Ernest Kao

Just 5 per cent of wedding guests say they like eating shark fin soup at banquets even though most of the city’s big Chinese restaurant chains still offer the delicacy, a survey has found.
Some 75 per cent were “neutral” towards it and 20 per cent either “disliked” or “really disliked” it.
Yet nine out of 10 guests said they would eat the dish if it was served to them, with the most popular justifications cited being to “avoid food waste” or to “show respect for their host”.
Only a tenth of respondents said they would refuse to eat a serving.
Hong Kong charities, unions and political organisations refuse to ‘say no to shark’s fin’
The Hong Kong Shark Foundation and City University gauged the response of 411 people leaving 30 evening wedding banquets over two months.

Prentice Koo Wai-muk, the foundation’s head of campaigns, said wedding hosts opting to have shark fin on their menu put their guests in a “dilemma between wasting food or standing by their values”. The survey, he said, also highlighted the contrast between the growing passivity towards the dish and the mentality of restaurant chains still offering it.
“There is already a huge discrepancy between the amount of fins imported and the amount actually consumed,” Koo said, adding that the “default” inclusion of the dish on menus was contributing to the decline in shark populations.

A survey by the group earlier this year revealed that 98 per cent of 375 restaurants surveyed served shark fin soup, even though the common assumption was that consumption was dropping.
Why a ban on transporting all shark fin remains the best way to revive threatened species
A 2013 market study by Chinese restaurant chain U-Banquet for its Growth Enterprise Market listing found 70 per cent of new Hong Kong couples opted to hold wedding banquets and 54 per cent had them at traditional Chinese restaurants, hosting an average of 20 to 35 tables.
Based on these figures, Koo estimated that about 323,000 banquet tables a year would offer shark fin.
Roughly 70 to 100 million sharks are killed in commercial fisheries every year, with their fins often ending up in soups served in mainland China and Hong Kong.
In a Bloom Association survey last year, 90 per cent of respondents indicated that they found shark fin soup at wedding banquets unacceptable, while 94 per cent were unwilling to consume threatened species.


Only 5pc of Hong Kong wedding guests like shark fin soup even though most menus offer it as ‘default’ option, survey finds

Protesters target a restaurant in North Point that offers shark fin on the menu. Photo: Sam Tsang

Protesters from WildAid Hong Kong and Hong Kong Shark Foundation dress in shark costumes protest against a restaurant which exclusively serves shark fin on the menu, at the Foo Lum Palace in North Point. 05FEB16 SCMP/ Sam Tsang

Hundreds of shark fins are drying under the sun at the roof of a factory building in Western District. 03JAN13

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

But nine out of 10 people say they would eat the delicacy if offered it to avoid waste or to respect hosts
