Tan Yi Hui, Straits Times 11 May 08;
Discussion is heating up on the levels of mercury in shark's fin and the cruel ways of netting them from the oceans. But while some nature lovers avoid the dish, others continue the tradition of serving it at wedding dinners
Something will be missing from Cynthia Sng's wedding later this month, but it's neither a runaway groom nor a misplaced diamond ring.
The 29-year-old civil servant will not be serving shark's fin, long considered a main attraction and status symbol on the menu at Chinese weddings. She faced little opposition, thanks to an understanding husband and family, in-laws included.
She says: 'We know about some of the things that happen to sharks when they are caught, and it's just another dish to us.'
She and other young professionals have jumped on the eat-ethical bandwagon for their banquets, in the wake of graphic images portrayed around the world of live finning.
This is where fishermen cut off the fins of sharks that are still alive, tossing the carcasses back into the sea for a slow, agonising death. However, there is some dispute over whether this is, in fact, that widespread a practice.
Celebrities like Chinese basketball player Yao Ming and global corporates like HSBC bank have put their weight behind the flap over fins. The bank excludes the dish at functions, in line with its stance on sustainable development.
Out of 15 hotels that LifeStyle contacted, more than half report a rise in the number of Chinese weddings where the hosts have chosen not to serve the pricey dish.
Senior marketing manager Belladonnah Lim of the Fairmont Singapore says shark's fin is off the menu for 30 of the 280 weddings scheduled for this year at the hotel. The figure was 'nil a couple of years back'.
A Singapore Marriott Hotel spokesman says non-shark's fin weddings comprise over 10 per cent of nuptial celebrations this year, compared with just 3 per cent last year.
Over at the Shangri-La, director of events management Hon Ooi Lee says that figures for non-shark's fin weddings are as high as 30 per cent this year. It was about 20 per cent in 2006.
All hotels say couples who give shark's fin the chop at weddings are usually nature or animal lovers, or conservation-conscious divers.
LifeStyle spoke to 10 couples who scrapped the dish from their wedding banquet menus.
One is Mr Edward Kwek, 32, and wife, Angeline Yip, 30, who had a diver-themed wedding last year.
He and his wife entered the banquet hall by walking beneath surface-marker buoys - inflatable 2m floats that divers use - that some of his guests held up.
Because most of his guests were fellow divers, they had no problems with a wedding without shark's fin.
'If we had it, we would be in hell,' quips the account manager.
The fact that some people are avoiding shark's fin like the plague is a welcome sign for non-government organisations like the Singapore Environment Council.
Chief executive officer Howard Shaw says: 'It's fantastic. We applaud any couple who does it.'
The council takes part in projects to raise conservation awareness. Just last week, together with international conservationist group WildAid, it announced that three out of 10 per cent of shark's fin samples tested here contained unsafe levels of mercury.
Alternatives are as good
Tutor Julia Khoo, 32, and husband Ricky Soh, 36, can be considered pioneers of the anti-shark's fin wedding movement. Seven years ago, they decided not have it at their wedding.
She says: 'It was very rare and quite bold. At that time, the campaign not to serve shark's fin was only just starting.'
She admits she and her husband faced some disapproval from family members who were worried that guests might think they were cheapskate.
Her husband, an IT professional, even toyed with the idea of showing an Animal Planet trailer of live finning at the wedding, but decided it was 'too much'. In the end, only one of their guests complained about the absence of shark's fin soup.
'We didn't care what people thought. It was our wedding,' says Ms Khoo who, together with her husband, still abstains from eating shark's fin cooked in any form.
Instead of the dish, hotels offer substitutes like braised lobster soup, bird's nest soup with scallops, winter melon and crab meat soup, seafood with abalone broth, and even shark's fin soup base without the fins.
The hotels LifeStyle spoke to say the shark's fin dish is the most expensive on the menu and can cost up to $50 per person. That's $500 for a table of 10 for just one dish.
But doing away with the dish doesn't mean a cheaper dinner.
Marketing manager Frances Koh from the Hilton Singapore says the alternatives are as good as shark's fin, and the 'costs of the ingredients are the same'.
Hotels like Shangri-La even provide cards on the dining table that explain the exclusion of shark's fin to guests.
Such cards are also available from US-based group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which prints individual cards for guests. In return, couples give a token donation to the group.
Sea Shepherd member Grant Pereira, who also works for the Singapore Environment Council, says it supplies cards to about two weddings a month, and has seen a 5 per cent increase every year since it started the initiative five years ago.
Still, the fascination with shark's fin soup is rooted deep in tradition, and industry players say the overall trend is not about to change anytime soon.
This is borne out by consumption figures. Statistics released by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore show that while there has been a steady decline in the consumption of shark's fin since 2003, there was a jump last year when numbers went up to 472 tonnes, almost three times the figure in 2006.
The spike is attributed to a boom in the economy and greater consumer spending power, according to industry insiders.
On the consumer end, wedding planner Esta Giam, 37, says three to four out of 10 couples who go with shark's fin at weddings do so mainly because of their relatives.
She says: 'At the end of the day, clients don't really choose. It's usually for the parents.'
Telecommunications executive Lew Wei Qing agrees. The 25-year-old, who will hold her wedding next year, is against consuming shark's fin, but says: 'Traditional Chinese wedding dinners are typically the parents' event so if they want it, anything goes. I'm not about to get into trouble with my in-laws because of this.'
The kitchen director at Dragon Phoenix restaurant, Mr Chris Hooi, explains: 'There is a Cantonese saying: A menu without shark's fin is not considered as a banquet.'
Restaurants here say they have not seen any significant decrease in orders for shark's fin.
Mr K. Vee, 27, a sales executive, probably speaks for most people when he says: 'It is the same for the other animals you eat. If you see people killing chickens at the market by splitting them at the neck, do you stop eating KFC?'
