what shark-eating restaurants to avoid in the Philippines?

[chip104]

Spain, GB, France, Italy etc are the main suppliers of shark fins from Europe. Cut off the supply, problem half-solved. Any nationals of the named countries should be ashamed of themselves!!!!! Is it a fair comment? Of course NOT.
If it is legal to catch, transfer and sell, then what is wrong of eating it?
I do not eat shark fin, bird's nest, turtle, wild games etc etc and so are many Chinese as well. A very small fraction of them do not represent the whole race. Not many Hong Kongers can afford to run a car let alone a Bentley.
Shabu is widely used in Philippines and most of them are produced in China. Do we blame the whole country to supply it to Philippines?
How would you judege those living at Forbes Park and those living eg Bagong Silang?
Inspector Mendoza slaughtered 9 HK tourists in Manila back in Aug 23rd. Are you suggesting that all Pinoys are trigger happy?

Centrals, don't let race blind you of the facts. Bottom line: there is a huge demand for shark fins in upscale chinese markets. You can't deny that. Maybe it's not the only market, but it definitely makes up most of the pie.

Here's a question for you: if you were to lead a campaign against shark finning who would be your target audience/country? (ie would you target the suppliers or the demanders? ps you only have enough resources to target one)

 

[Hank49]

Rather a ban on shark fishing altogether... At the slow rate sharks reproduce, it will take 50+ years for populations to show the slightest comeback...

Hawaii used to fish for big tiger sharks back in the 50s and 60s. They didn't need bad press of shark attacks hurting tourism. When I as there in the 70s, there hadn't been an attack since the 50s (someone named Weaver off the Moku Manus near Kailua) They stopped in the 70s due to pressure from environmental groups and by the mid 80s BIG tigers were hitting surfers again. When I left Kauai in 1986 there had been 3 attacks in about 2 years.
I think the populations would come back much faster than in 50 years.

 

[Babydamulag]

African News Update | Starfish News | Good for TiTi Growth

See it is true......
We even heard that several Asian nations have started harvesting COTS!!

 

[Centrals]

Centrals, don't let race blind you of the facts. Bottom line: there is a huge demand for shark fins in upscale chinese markets. You can't deny that. Maybe it's not the only market, but it definitely makes up most of the pie.

Here's a question for you: if you were to lead a campaign against shark finning who would be your target audience/country? (ie would you target the suppliers or the demanders? ps you only have enough resources to target one)

Ban all forms of shark fishing and the sell of its products.

 

[vladimir]

My apologies for once again side-tracking what was intended to be a local thread. While shark finning has long been an issue in Hong Kong, it has gotten renewed coverage in the local press lately, due to the fins being dried on a local street. Here's the link (subscription required) to an editorial in today's South China Morning Post, and an excerpt:

Latest News Columns & Insight from Hong Kong & China | SCMP.com

Only those with their eyes and ears closed could have missed it. Shark's fin has been banned by Hong Kong Disneyland and the University of Hong Kong, while 52 restaurants and hotels have promised to provide at least one banquet menu without it. Surveys consistently show that a majority of people are willing to break with tradition and would opt for alternatives, if offered.
They have good reason to feel this way. Many species of shark, as with all large fish, are endangered by overfishing. The finning industry is worth an estimated US$1.2 billion annually and it is rapidly expanding as China becomes more prosperous and appetite for the dish increases. Demand and the difficulty of managing and monitoring fishing are driving some species to extinction.

The SCMP seems clear on where the demand is coming from. Kudos to the majority of Hong Kongers who would break with tradition to avoid shark's fin on the menus of their catered banquets!

 

[CODMAN]

Hank, I don't know the specifics of the tiger shark issue/ population in hawai, so I can't really comment on your example... But most sharks reach sexual reproduction at the age of 10-20 years... Meaning a new age class won't be able to add progeny to the population before 10 years... Add that to the fact estimates the global shark populations (I'm generalising here) are something like 10% of what they once were... And sharks reproduce in very small numbers (they have very few offspring)...You have a very small population that can very few offspring, and it takes the new generation, even if 100% of them survive, 10-20 years before they can contribute to population growth... This spells very very slow recovery. I even wonder if my "50 years" isn't overly optimistic...

In Canada we put huge catch limits on Spiny dogfish (a small shark) and Porbeagle shark because of this. Fisheries scientists quickly realised the two species could easily be wiped out if a large commercial fishery developped unchecked...

Just food for thought!

Hawaii used to fish for big tiger sharks back in the 50s and 60s. They didn't need bad press of shark attacks hurting tourism. When I as there in the 70s, there hadn't been an attack since the 50s (someone named Weaver off the Moku Manus near Kailua) They stopped in the 70s due to pressure from environmental groups and by the mid 80s BIG tigers were hitting surfers again. When I left Kauai in 1986 there had been 3 attacks in about 2 years.
I think the populations would come back much faster than in 50 years.

 

[Babydamulag]

Headlines in egypt ==== "sharks are eating human foot soup!"

 

[Babydamulag]

Another article - Sex pills from China being sold in Manila | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features

Chinese are using COTS too!!!

 

[Wantonmien]

Here's a question for you: if you were to lead a campaign against shark finning who would be your target audience/country? (ie would you target the suppliers or the demanders? ps you only have enough resources to target one)

Chip104 - Target audience/country would be China mainland, followed by Hong Kong / Taiwan.

Worth watching the sharkwater documentary SHARKWATER if you can get a copy to hear some facts such as majoirty of fishing boats collecting fins are Chinese/Taiwanese registered, funded by the Chinese mafia, with often the crew on the boats being from Philippines.

No real global place on this forum for 'anti shark finning' but a few like minded individuals add occasional threads and links to campaigns and other websites in Shark Forum! - ScubaBoard

Cheers