CHINA says it will ban shark fin soup from official banquets in three years, and despite the vast popularity of the dish, there are signs that a growing number of people are turning down the delicacy symbolizing prestige and generosity. Dong Zhen reports.

The image of bloodied, dying sharks with sawed-off fins and the realization that the shark population is plummeting have mobilized people to save the sharks and remove status-symbol shark fin soup from Chinese menus.

A no-shark-fin campaign is growing across China, the world's major consumer of the fins. Celebrities and business people are calling on the Chinese to forego the delicacies. They include former NBA star Yao Ming, filmmaker Ang Lee and 300 business tycoons, including Jack Ma, owner of Alibaba.com and Taobao.com, and Wang Shi, who owns Vanke, one of the largest real estate groups in China.

"When the buying stops, the killing can too," Yao says in a widely seen video.

Director Lee, too, has made a film.

Anecdotal evidence in the past year suggests that among wealthy and educated people in Shanghai, the "opinion-shapers," there's a bit of a decline in orders for the predator.

Whether out of genuine concern or for appearances' sake (some Hong Kong and other clients might disapprove), some people are deciding against shark fin soup and going instead for lobster and other expensive soups, which are also costly and prestigious.

"In February I arranged a major annual banquet for family, friends and business colleagues and I did not include shark fin, bird's nest or daoyu (wild knife fish, or mackerel pike) because some environmentally conscious guests might be offended," says Lisa Ng from Shanghai.

Last year at the same event, shark fin and other delicacies were very much present. Wild knife fish costs as much as several thousand yuan for 500 grams. This year she opted instead for lobster soup, a savory herbal soup with wild ginseng, and a soup made of the oviduct fat of Chinese snow frogs. All are very expensive.

Shark fin costs as much as 660 yuan per person at one exclusive Shanghai shark fin and seafood restaurant. It can cost as much as US$400 a pound in Hong Kong.

Delicious soup

The elaborately prepared shark fin soup is a traditional must-have at special occasions, such as weddings, business dinners and government banquets of all kinds. Not serving "noble" shark fin is considered ungenerous and disrespectful to guests.

The soup can be delicious because of long stewing and other ingredients, such as chicken. But the fin itself is tasteless cartilage, which is prized by connoisseurs for its texture, variously described as chewy, crunchy, snappy and slithery.

In traditional Chinese medicine, shark fin is said to have enormous benefits for men's potency, women's complexions, everyone's qi (life energy) and cardiovascular well-being, among other things. Benefits of an occasional bowl are negligible.

The overall picture of shark consumption is not encouraging - many newly rich Chinese insist on shark fin in a display of wealth.

As many as 73 million sharks are killed annually in the estimated multi-billion dollar industry and the global shark population has fallen by 80 percent over 50 years, according to various environmental groups. Seventeen shark species are on the verge of extinction. The oceans' ecosystems are endangered. Asia's demand is the major reason.

Statistics are unreliable because the industry is opaque and secretive - many countries and jurisdictions have banned shark fin sales and "finning," the practice of sawing off fins and dumping helpless shark into the ocean to die. Smuggling is widespread.

Still, in China, where most fins are consumed, there are signs of improvement.

In the past two years, shark fin consumption in Shanghai restaurants has dropped by half, according to Jin Peihua, deputy secretary of Shanghai Restaurants Association, in an interview with China Business News early in July.

He cited increasing pressure from environmentalists, involvement of celebrities and a crackdown on smuggling. Imported high-end seafood such as lobster and king crab, as well as sea cucumber have become increasingly popular and made up for some of the lost demand, he said.

Chinese media reported recently that some unnamed shark fin suppliers have noticed a clear decline in orders since basketballer Yao and other celebrities started publicly boycotting shark fin.

In recent years trade in shark fin has dropped by as much as 20 percent in major cities, the suppliers were quoted as saying. Hong Kong trade, which is enormous, is said to have declined around 15 percent between 2010 and 2011.

Shark fin was believed to have been absent from a lavish Kong Kong banquet in 2010 marking the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The government released annual entertainment costs, and fish for that banquet was valued at only around 200 yuan, far less than shark fin. One attendee said the most expensive dish was fish and shrimp. Hong Kong's ultra-prestigious Jockey Club and its Beijing branch have also banned the dish.

A graphic French documentary "Oceans" shown last year swayed many people with its graphic scenes of horrific cruelty and mutilation.

Early this month the Chinese government announced it planned to ban the delicacy from official banquets, but said it could take as long as three years for the ban to take effect.

The pledge on July 2 from China's State Council came in response to a petition from more than 30 national lawmakers appealing for a ban. Though it was a long-term promise, it was praised by environmental groups as a first step. Some people were outraged and said in Internet postings that the government shouldn't wait that long.

Even in three years, it's debatable how well it will be implemented since many regional and local governments selectively implement central government directives as they see fit.

Social networking

Individuals and environmental groups are advancing the cause using weibo, the country's leading social networking platform with hundreds of millions of users. Some post videos of shark killing and call for boycotts of restaurants serving shark fin.

They update lists of restaurateurs that have publicly pledged to remove shark fin from their menu, and invite people to check them out; if the pledges are true, they urge people to patronize those establishments.

Shangguan Junle, chairman of Haomen Jipin restaurants in northern Shanxi Province, said he was so shocked by the cruelty depicted in the movie "Oceans" that he would stop serving shark fin.

Wang Xiaofei, CEO of the famous South Beauty restaurants, also joined the no-shark-fin campaign and appealed to people to stop eating shark fin.

Hotels

Top international hotel brands told Shanghai Daily in telephone interviews that they do not serve shark fin soup in their city properties and most don't serve it anywhere in the world.

Hotel groups contacted include Hilton, Hyatt, JW Marriott, Jumeirah Himalayas, Le Meridien, Peninsula, Shangri-La, Waldorf Astoria and Westin.

"Shangri-La hotels around the globe have stopped serving shark fin dishes. We don't provide it even for special banquets such as wedding parties," says Monica Li, an official with Shangri-La's Shanghai operations.

Effie Zhu, a spokeswoman for The Peninsula Shanghai, says the hotel has increased the supply of lobster and other high-quality seafood since removing shark fin from the menus on January 1.

Jasmine Ye, a representative of Jumeirah Himalayas, says staff always explain the no-shark-fin policy to diners who order it and urge them to join the campaign to protect sharks and the ocean.

Most guests are receptive, she says.

Voracious appetite

But diners determined to savor shark fin have many options.

Despite the progress in tackling the problem, shark fin soups, shark fin rice and dim sum are still consumed voraciously every day at many restaurants, especially seafood restaurants, and lower-tier hotels in Shanghai and elsewhere.

Nearly 200 names of eateries pop in a search for Shanghai shark fin from the leading food review website dianping.com. The most popular receive hundreds of comments on the refined cooking skills.

"You had better make reservations for weekends, otherwise you won't be able to get a seat," said a receptionist who answered the phone at Shanghai's Fu Ling Men Shark Fin and Seafood Restaurant. A soup serving for one costs 660 yuan, but that hasn't deterred the human sharks.

Other popular restaurants, such as Mingxuan and Tanshi, report no change in shark fin lovers' orders. Representatives told Shanghai Daily that those who book wedding banquets would never omit shark fin.

"Shark fin has long been an indicator of whether a wedding is top-tier," says an insider from the local wedding planning industry, adding that hotels are eager to serve it since they can make a big profit.

Mercurial sharks

Recent research indicates that shark fin is definitely not healthful because it frequently contains high levels of toxic mercury, a result of industrial ocean dumping. Because they're at the top of the food chain, sharks contain the mercury eaten by all the fish it consumes.

An occasional bowl of soup is not considered dangerous to healthy adults, but pregnant women are advised not to eat shark fin soup.

The debate also draws in those who say campaigners are more concerned about sharks than people.

Yu Minhong, a national political adviser and chairman of the famous Shanghai education firm New Oriental, early this year joined fellow advisers in urging a ban on shark fin at government banquets.

But he was overwhelmed by opposition online.

"Criticism on the web nearly killed me," Yu told the media. "People say political advisers ignore the life and death of people while appealing for the rights of sharks. But I don't see a conflict problem. We should also protect the ocean environment."