Fin-free fight
Be a Shark Hero. As Chinese New Year approaches, WWF-Malaysia urges Malaysians to avoid shark fin soup.
WHILE movies may dramatise rare shark attacks on humans, the truth is that humans are attacking sharks – on an industrial scale.
Humans kill over 100 million sharks annually, mainly for their priced fins, often in a most cruel way. As the fins are worth much more than shark meat, fishermen usually just cut the fins off live sharks and then throw them back into the sea rather than ferrying the whole fish back.
Imagine throwing someone into the sea with all his or her limbs cut off. The sharks are unable to swim without their fins and then either starve to death, get eaten alive by other fish, or sink to the bottom of the sea to die (see video at https:// goo.gl/M0NQe2).
Sharks are worth much more alive than dead. They are to the seas what tigers are to the jungle, as they sit on top of the food chain and keep the ecosystem below them in balance – and this includes many valuable fish.
In Jan 2016, WWF-Malaysia (WWF-M) launched its My Fin My Life (MFML) campaign to reduce trade and consumption of shark fin in Malaysia. The campaign was run in three major cities – Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu.
Campaign partners included Malaysian Nature Society Selangor Branch Marine Group, Reef Check Malaysia, Sabah Shark Protection Association, Shark Savers Malaysia and Scuba Schools International.
At the end of the MFML campaign, which ended in Dec 31, a total of 55,000 people pledged to say NO to shark fin and shark products (from an earlier target of one million pledges).
Eighty-six companies pledged to remove shark fin from their corporate dining menu (the target was 500 businesses); and 875 restaurants (out of 20,000 aimed for) were sensitised to the cause. An average of 11,000 daily postings was achieved over the Facebook platform as well.
In general, the campaign found that Malaysians generally sympathise with the plight of sharks, but most were not ready to commit to saving sharks. Some Malaysians signed the pledge but claimed they would continue to eat shark fin soup, shared WWF-Malaysia Sustainable Seafood manager Chitra Dewi.
“The campaign proved to be challenging in several ways. Saving sharks requires everyone to join forces to deliver a bigger impact. It is a long-term initiative,” said WWF-M’s executive director and CEO Datuk Dr Dionysius S.K. Sharma at a recent press conference, which coincided with WWFM’s 45th anniversary on Jan 13.
WWF-Malaysia also changed their tagline from “Break the Bowl Challenge” to “Be a Shark Hero” to get more public attention.
The process to engage businesses is evolving.
“Our theory of change is that when the selling stops, the buying will too,” said Dionysius.
He likened it to the 13 years taken to set up the Tun Mustapha Park (TMP), Malaysia’s largest marine park (measuring about 900,000ha) which will help provide habitat protection to sharks.
“It was a long process but well worth it,” said Dionysius.
The MFML campaign also received good response from Penang and Sabah state governments, which organised public events like the FINtastic Run and business dialogues in both George Town and Kota Kinabalu.
Recently, WWF-M announced the continuation of the campaign by focussing on the wedding industry.
According to WWF-M’s Asian City Shark Fin Consumer Survey 2015, shark fin soup consumption in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong is strongly tied to celebrations such as Chinese weddings.
Wedding discounts
The Shark Hero (MFML campaign’s mascot) will champion the ‘Wedding without Fins’ project. This is to persuade soon-to-be-wed couples to opt for wedding banquets without shark fin soup in 2017, said Dionysius.
Abner Yap, president of Shark Savers Malaysia (SSM) said, “With the economy not doing so well, we want to help couples reduce wedding costs by offering discounts and deals from various wedding partners like printers and photography studios if they pledge not to have shark fin in their menu.”
SSM is also working with mobile app providers to collect pledges (more info will be available soon on facebook.com/sharksaversmalaysia/)
“In the past, wedding couples might not want a shark fin dish but worry about what their guests will think (so they just include it anyway),” said Yap, adding that each table of 10 guests eating shark fin soup equals to one dead shark.
The Shark Fin Consumer Survey also found that opinion is divided as to whether it’s acceptable to replace shark fin soup with alternatives at weddings. Although the majority (57%) believe it’s acceptable, for 43%, the sense of tradition outweighs environmental concerns (for the time being).
“We can’t really change our parents’ generation’s mindset but what we can do is educate the younger group to tell their parents that they do not want to have shark fin at their wedding dinners,” he said.
With Chinese New Year around the corner, WWF-M reminds Malaysians to be a Shark Hero and avoid shark fin soup during the festive season.