California leads nation with intent to ban shark fin soup
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California moving forward with ban on shark fin soup in restaurants
The Chinese, known for eating dogs, cats, and pretty much everything that moves or breathes, are whining. You see the California assembly is seeking to ban the barbaric practice of serving up shark fin soup to diners. The Chinese restauranteurs and their elected representatives, seeing a drop in revenue, are complaining that the legislation unfairly targets Chinese. I don’t see anything unfair about prohibiting this cruel practice and if the Chinese don’t like it they can all move to Las Vegas, where everything is allowed.
Here’s the story:
California lawmakers may take shark fin soup off the menu of every restaurant in the state next week—or at least try, CNN reports. Fueled by a growing disgust of finning—in which fishermen cut off the fin and toss the shark back in the ocean—the California Shark Protection Act would ban all possession, sale, or trade of shark fins, which sell at $600 a pound. But some say next week’s vote unfairly targets Chinese Americans, who consider shark fin soup a delicacy.
“I think for the ban to be culturally blind it has to ban all the products that have to do with sharks, shark meat, shark oil,” says a restaurant owner in San Francisco. Also, not all state lawmakers are on board: Assemblymember Mike Eng says California should have taken time to educate the Chinese community, instead of forging legislation that is “going to be forced down our throats.” Advocates argue that sharks, which are the top of the marine food pyramid, are becoming extinct partly because of finning.
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The CA senate has passed the bill banning shark fin trade and it now heads to Gov Brown for his signature.
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/california_legislature_passes_Shark_Fin_ban.html
Gordon Ramsay did an excellent expose on this barbaric practice. Shark Bait, that I watched last month on BBC America. Here ya go I found it.
http://www.channel4.com/4food/on-tv/fish-fight-extras/gordons-shark-bait
Jess I can’t thank you enough for this link. I wanted to watch that show, not because I’m a huge Gordon Ramsay fan necessarily, but because I am interested in doing my part to stop this horrible, horrible practice.
It’s a really good show. He was threatened with gas poured on him and still he kept on keeping on. If the Chinese restaurant you go to has this soup on the menu, talk to them. They might surprise you, as mine did, and take it off the menu.
If they took it off the menu, do you think they’d create a secret “shark fin eating room” in the back like they used to do for porn movies? Then charge you 10 times as much because it’s prohibited? Sounds a bit like the prohibition days. I actually think cigarettes should be outlawed. They cause a lot more harm than shark-fin soup ever could. I’m not for killing sharks or any other animals for the use of a single body part, but let’s get our world priorities in order. Hope I didn’t offend. However, I’m happily surprised they took it off the menu. Not all restaurants would do that.
You know RickRay, there is always that possibility but there were many of us asked the owner if he would take it off in my area, so I don’t know. I would imagine if he wants to lose a lot of business from us tree huggers, he might consider that. As far as priorities go, imo, keeping the environment the way it is supposed to be should be a priority for all of us. That includes the oceans with the life in it.
Yay Jess!!!
What jenny40 wrote, Jess… I think we should take the “fins” of the people who commit this atrocious act. The thought of those poor creatures trying to survive after what can only be considered torture has made me tear up on more than one occasion…
The show I linked to up there, with Gordon Ramsay, will make you cry for these magnificent creatures. I have heard more than once, that as humans we have dominion over the animals according to the Bible. I won’t tell you how much that nugget pisses me off.
Jess, I have to take you at your word. I can’t watch animal cruelty clips: I get teary just thinking about the torture many humans inflict on animals. Unfortunately, the people that need to either won’t watch or, if they do, won’t care…
California leads the country when it comes to legislation protecting animals, environment, and etc. Go California!!
I’m glad to know California is aggressively pursuing this barbaric practice. I agree 100% with Jenny (…but I’m a “little” biased…)
From the LA Times
The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 5-2 vote and now moves to the Senate floor, where a vote is expected within the next few weeks.
The Assembly passed the bill in May, 65 to 8, but it ran into opposition in the upper house.
Chinese American restaurateurs and traders have lobbied against the bill and are being backed by several Chinese American lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who voted against the measure Thursday. Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) has called it “an unfair attack on Asian culture and cuisine.”
On the other side are conservationists, who are supported by some Chinese American lawmakers, chefs and celebrities, including basketball star Yao Ming. Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year for their fins, and scientists say the fin trade threatens to disrupt ocean ecosystems. To harvest the fins, fishermen cut them off live sharks and dump the animals back in the water to die.
Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Sunnyvale), a sponsor of the bill, was born in China and grew up eating shark fin soup but turned against it several years ago after watching a film about how the fin trade was wiping out shark populations.
“At this rate, they’re going to be extinct in our lifetime,” Fong said in an interview. “And without the top predator, our ocean’s ecosystem goes into a huge imbalance and falls like a house of cards.
California already has the most aggressive renewable standard in the nation: 33 percent by 2020, a goal that utilities like PG&E and Southern California Edison are well on their way to meeting that goal. Gov. Brown instituted the most aggressive clean energy program in the nation only a few months after assuming office.
Nevada is now following California’s lead. For better or worse, As California goes, so goes the nation.