Taiwan restaurant to cut down serving shark's fin after protests

EarthTimes 23 Jul 08;

Taipei - Taiwan's most exclusive restaurant on Wednesday gave in to protests from US and Taiwanese conservation groups and agreed to remove serving shark's fin from its banquet menus. "We plan to replace the shark's fin dish in our State Treasure Banquet and serve artificially-raised abalone and sea cucumber," Chang Yun, a spokeswoman of Silk Palace restaurant, said.

However, the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) demands the restaurant remove shark's fin completely, not just from a special menu.

"What they are doing is to remove shark's fin from the State Treasure Banquet, but it will still be served to individual diners. We demand a total ban on shark's fin," EAST director Chen Yu-min said.

The Silk Palace, the most luxurious restaurant in Taiwan, agreed to the compromise after EAST and the US-based Humane Society International (HSI) urged government authorities to stop the banquet hall from serving shark's fin.

The newly opened luxury restaurant is affiliated with Taiwan's National Palace Museum.

In their petition to cabinet, the Council of Agriculture and the museum, HSI and EAST argued that Silk Palace was the venue for state banquets and drew many foreign tourists as well.

Out of the restaurant's four State Treasure banquet courses and five individual diner's set courses, eight include shark fin soup or shark fin dishes.

"Taiwan catches and imports a total of 600 tons of shark's fin each year. Shark's fin is a luxury food. Serving shark's fin at the Silk Palace damages Taiwan's international image," EAST said in a statement.

"Taiwan residents should boycott eating shark's fin and the government should launch a campaign to raise public awareness," EAST added.

EAST said harvesting shark's fin was very cruel because after cutting off shark's fin, fishermen throw sharks back into the sea, letting them bleed to death.

Killing sharks for their fin depletes the population and the disappearance of the predators has serious consequences for the marine environment, the statement said.

The Silk Palace banquet hall, outside the National Palace Museum on the outskirts of Taipei, was built for 400 million Taiwan dollars (13 million US dollars). It opened to the public in late June.

A 12-course State Treasure Banquet for 10 people costs about 20,000 Taiwan dollars, while an eight- or nine-course menu for one person costs from 1,000-3,000 Taiwan dollars.