Tide turning against shark's fin, especially among the young

The traditional delicacy has been falling out of favour, particularly among the younger generation, as concerns over cruelty grow
Jessica Lim and Siau Ming En Straits Times 8 Jan 12;

She reaches for a packet of dried shark's fin at the dried goods store in Queen Street. She's planning something special for the family dinner.

But she is stopped by her young daughter.

'Ma, don't buy that. It's very cruel,' the girl insists, referring to the practice of 'finning' - in which sharks are tossed overboard while still alive after their fins have been cut off.

The mother hesitates, then returns the packet of shark's fin to the shelves.

This is a true story related by a shop assistant, and staff at dried goods stores around Singapore say that such scenes are not uncommon here these days.

They reflect slowly changing attitudes towards eating shark's fin here. And it is not just individuals who are stepping up to the plate.

NTUC FairPrice, the largest supermarket chain here, recently said it will stop selling shark's fin products from April, following a public outcry.

Carrefour soon followed suit, affirming that it will stop selling the delicacy when its current stock runs out.

Last September, the Cold Storage chain was the first to pull shark's fin products from the shelves, at all of its 42 outlets.

Some restaurants and hotels have also taken it off their menus. They are receiving fewer orders too, and have started dissuading customers from ordering the dish.

And last month, hotels Grand Mercure Roxy and Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay - both operated by the Accor group - included a notice on their Chinese restaurant menus dissuading diners from ordering shark's fin.

Wedding planners attached to the hotels now offer clients alternatives like abalone and lobster soup.

'We want customers to think twice. Our aim is to eventually take it off our menus,' said Mr Kevin Bossino, a manager with the Accor group.

Demand for shark's fin for weddings at the two hotels, he said, has fallen by 20 per cent in the past year.

The drop is even greater for a la carte orders.

At Imperial Court Shark's Fin Restaurant in Ang Mo Kio, daily orders of shark's fin average out to about five tables out of the restaurant's 30. This is down from 10 tables ordering the dish two years ago.

But its service captain, Ms Lily Liau, said the drop is significant only for a la carte orders. Demand for the delicacy for catered functions remains strong because these customers are 'order regulars', said the 28-year-old.

Grand Hyatt Singapore saw a 5 per cent to 6 per cent increase last year in requests to replace shark's fin on wedding banquet menus.

Fairmont Singapore has stopped serving it altogether, while Resorts World Sentosa has taken it off its menu but will serve the dish on request.

A check with three shark's fin importers shows that demand has dipped by 10 to 15 per cent in the past two years.

Ms Eileen Mok, the owner of Mok Liang Lee Trading, a dried goods store in Queen Street, said there has even been a drop in the number of customers buying the delicacy for the coming Chinese New Year.

'They told me their children think the way sharks are treated is cruel, and do not want to eat them any more,' said the 53-year-old.

Figures on just how much shark's fin is consumed here each year are hard to estimate, given the nature of the trade: Importers buy the delicacy from overseas suppliers, but some stock is cleaned, packaged and re-exported.

Figures from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, however, show that over the past three years, about 8,200 tonnes of shark's fin were imported. In that same period, exports of shark's fin stood at approximately 6,900 tonnes.

While it has seemed to be an uphill fight to remove shark's fin from meals here in the past, Mr Bernd Schmitt, 54, executive director of the new Institute on Asian Consumer Insight, senses a sea-change, especially in the attitude of the younger generation. The delicacy is 'going out of tradition', he declares.

'The dish was popular because customers wanted to show their appreciation of their guests by ordering expensive items,' he said. 'But now there are other items like caviar and black truffles.'

'Values are changing and shark's fin is slowly falling out of fashion,' he said, adding that demand will keep falling as more retail outlets and restaurants stop serving it.

Activist groups have also raised public awareness, with even youngsters urging parents to stop eating shark's fin.

Most of all, this campaign is being won on the wedding dinner front.

Ms Joanne Tan, 22, who got married at a hotel here last month, served her guests fish maw soup instead of shark's fin.

'It was my decision but we had to persuade a few family members who had insisted on it,' said the student at the National University of Singapore.

Fellow NUS student Ong Say Lin, 24, showed his parents a shark finning video before they went to a wedding dinner last year.

'They didn't touch shark's fin soup that day,' he said with a triumphant grin.