Phuket hotels say no to shark fin soup

[webfact]

Phuket hotels say no to shark fin soup
Jody Houton


A hotel GM examines the details of the campiagn before signing.

PHUKET: -- More than 30 hotels from around Phuket joined the Fin Free Campaign on July 5 at the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort.

Although far from a significant percentage of hotels on the island, it is Steve Galster’s, Director of Freeland, hope that this may lead to further Phuket hotels and restaurants presenting a united front about their opposition to shark fin soup. The 30 or so hotels present at the event do not offer shark fin on their menu, and it is hoped that their stance will encourage those hotels that do offer it, to stop.

“We started in February with just three hotels and up till today we had 30 hotels signed up, mainly in the Bangkok area. But we’ve already doubled the number of hotels on-board by our event in Phuket today.”

Although this was wasn’t Mr Galster’s first visit to the island, it was the first that time that Freeland – an NGO, registered in Thailand and concerned with preserving and protecting wildlife around the world – had brought a campaign to Phuket.

“Today is all about keeping the sharks in the ocean, many shark species in Thailand waters are 20 per cent of what they used to be, with some as low as one per cent as what they were 50 years ago.”

During a talk to hotel operatives, and around 50 interested parties on the island, including Governor Maitree Intusut, he explained that shark fishing – or rather the chopping off of their fins and throwing back into the ocean – is a huge problem, ecologically speaking, as it disturbs the natural food chain. It’s also cruel, and to actually eat sharks is dangerous because it contains an incredibly high level of mercury, he believes.

As well as the affect on the much-protected image of Thailand tourism, he also said that it would soon have adverse effects in a monetary sense.

“It affects the diving business in Thailand and Phuket especially, as the dive business is worth around B3 billion a year.”

Gov Maitree echoed Mr Galster’s thoughts when he took to the stage later on in the afternoon.

“Nobody wants to go diving and see a dead shark. Let’s all work together for the next generation to stop shark fin fishing.”

This is not the first time that Freeland has attempted to raise awareness of the cruelty and inhumane treatment of sharks in Thailand, however, Mr Galster is hoping that this time, it will turn out much better.

“We tried this 12 years ago and were actually quite successful, so much in fact that people who were benefiting from the shark fin industry tried to sue us. Eventually though the court threw the case out.”

Mr Galster said that the Thai public perception of wildlife has changed dramatically since then.

“Many did not understand what we were doing and why we were doing it. They didn't understand why we were trying to save a dangerous animal and save Jaws.”

Working on educating the younger generation of Thailand on the ills of the shark finning industry should be paramount said Mr Galster. This was one reason that in the afternoon, children from Cherng Talay Wittayakom School took part in various activities and games aimed at raising awareness of the shark fin industry.

The ultimate aim of the campaign, explains Mr Galster, is for Phuket to be ‘Fin Free,’ however he admits the island is far from having such status just yet.

“Shark fin soup is still being marketed towards the Asian market as part of their Thai holiday. There are therefore many hotels and restaurants in Phuket Town that cater to them.”

Mr Glaster added that the problems caused by the illegal trade of wildlife in Thailand did not necessarily stem from a lack of rules and regulations governing the treatment of wildlife.

“The problem is that the punishment for breaking the rules are way too lenient. The maximum fine is $1,200 dollars, so even if somebody is working in trading multi-million dollars worth of elephant tusks, they still will only be fined 1,200 dollars.”

It is for this reason therefore that he would like to work on bringing changes among the people who have the choice as to whether to eat, serve and benefit from it, rather than those charged with enforcing the rules.

For more information, visit: http://www.finfreethai.org/

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-hotels-say-no-to-shark-fin-soup-40729.php


-- Phuket News 2013-07-09

PHUKET NEWS TV: Fin Free in Phuket, July 9
Outrigger Laguna hosted a 'Fin Free' conference to gain the support of Phuket's restaurants to ban the serving of Shark Fin soup. Find out why. Tim Newton reports.

[nachiket]

During a talk to hotel operatives, and around 50 interested parties on the island, including Governor Maitree Intusut, he explained that shark fishing – or rather the chopping off of their fins and throwing back into the ocean – is a huge problem, ecologically speaking, as it disturbs the natural food chain. It’s also cruel, and to actually eat sharks is dangerous because it contains an incredibly high level of mercury, he believes.

Appreciated!!! Great initiative.

[laurentbkk]

with all Thai/Chinese enjoying their shark fin soups on Sundays , it will take centuries (or the end of shark species) to stop them eating that dish. anyway its always good to reminds the essential to people . Hope the whole country will say no to shark fin soup

[lee b]

Good on the hotels that signed up !! I'm not a lover of sharks to be honest but killing them for a fin is just plain wrong !

[gl555]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

[eezergood]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

Describe the taste!

Its bland, the fin is used for texture reasons only. Aside from some rubbish links to "making power' its a face making exercise. Lots of hotels in BKK are acutally serving fake fin, and some dont even know.

[gl555]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

Describe the taste!

Its bland, the fin is used for texture reasons only. Aside from some rubbish links to "making power' its a face making exercise. Lots of hotels in BKK are acutally serving fake fin, and some dont even know.

You said it yourself. It's the texture. Shark's fin in itself is tasteless but the texture is what makes the soup taste so wonderful. As for fake shark's fin, well if you don't know what you're eating you couldn't tell the difference between fake, cheap and good quality shark's fin. It's the same as some cheap whiskey drinker who can't tell the difference between the taste of glass of rot gut and a glass of 18 year old single malt.

[clockman]

See it takes, a non Thai person.! and i wish him luck. Because there is a lot of money involved. And life means nothing to these people.

[eezergood]

If it was so successful 12 years ago, why are they rolling this out again??

Try changing decades of attitude! I have cooked, seen & served more sharks fin than i dare to remember most of it cheap low grade rubbish - which means small under sized sharks.

As for the taste, this would taste idetical even with the fake stuff.You could even substitiute with pig ear cartligde, its all in the broth/soup!

[stevenl]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

So you're one of the people helping to get sharks extinct .

[gl555]

If it was so successful 12 years ago, why are they rolling this out again??

Try changing decades of attitude! I have cooked, seen & served more sharks fin than i dare to remember most of it cheap low grade rubbish - which means small under sized sharks.

As for the taste, this would taste idetical even with the fake stuff.You could even substitiute with pig ear cartligde, its all in the broth/soup!

That's pure rubbish.

Head to the food court at MBK and try their cheapo shark's fin then head to any good Chinese restaurant at Yaowarat and try a clay pot of their special grade shark's fin. You CAN taste the difference between the cheap shark's fin and the more expensive one.

While the way they treat the shark after they get the fin is cruel, it is those anti meat eating activists who have perpetuated the myth that 'fake' shark's fin tastes the same as real one. Fake shark's fin taste as real as the fake meat they serve at vegetarian restaurants here.

[Guest]

Great to have some good news from Phuket. Some hotels put their values above the almighty money.

I would not have anything against shark fin soup if the whole sharks would be prepared as food.

[DiamondKing]

AWESOME

I liked it but stopped eating it 20 years ago after seeing the complete waste of the shark that is tossed back into the sea ALIVE minus its fins

[eezergood]

If it was so successful 12 years ago, why are they rolling this out again??

Try changing decades of attitude! I have cooked, seen & served more sharks fin than i dare to remember most of it cheap low grade rubbish - which means small under sized sharks.

As for the taste, this would taste idetical even with the fake stuff.You could even substitiute with pig ear cartligde, its all in the broth/soup!

That's pure rubbish.

Head to the food court at MBK and try their cheapo shark's fin then head to any good Chinese restaurant at Yaowarat and try a clay pot of their special grade shark's fin. You CAN taste the difference between the cheap shark's fin and the more expensive one.

While the way they treat the shark after they get the fin is cruel, it is those anti meat eating activists who have perpetuated the myth that 'fake' shark's fin tastes the same as real one. Fake shark's fin taste as real as the fake meat they serve at vegetarian restaurants here.

AGAIN, as an industry professional with over 20 years experience some of which was in Hong Kong & Beijing, its all about the soup! The soup is the flavour the fin is the texture ONLY.

It has no discernible taste whatsoever - If your yardstick is a foodcourt in BKK then i have nothing more to add

[stevenl]

Great to have some good news from Phuket. Some hotels put their values above the almighty money.

I would not have anything against shark fin soup if the whole sharks would be prepared as food.

Agree that would be a lot better.

But even then, humanity is fishing away sharks at an incredible speed, and sharks are extremely important to keep the underwater world balanced. Some shark species are already protected, others deserve much more protection than they are getting.

Leaving the sharks alone is the best thing we can do at the moment.

[eezergood]

Great to have some good news from Phuket. Some hotels put their values above the almighty money.

I would not have anything against shark fin soup if the whole sharks would be prepared as food.

Agree that would be a lot better.

But even then, humanity is fishing away sharks at an incredible speed, and sharks are extremely important to keep the underwater world balanced. Some shark species are already protected, others deserve much more protection than they are getting.

Leaving the sharks alone is the best thing we can do at the moment.

http://www.finfreethai.org/#!blue-list/c1mhj

[gl555]

If it was so successful 12 years ago, why are they rolling this out again??

Try changing decades of attitude! I have cooked, seen & served more sharks fin than i dare to remember most of it cheap low grade rubbish - which means small under sized sharks.

As for the taste, this would taste idetical even with the fake stuff.You could even substitiute with pig ear cartligde, its all in the broth/soup!

That's pure rubbish.

Head to the food court at MBK and try their cheapo shark's fin then head to any good Chinese restaurant at Yaowarat and try a clay pot of their special grade shark's fin. You CAN taste the difference between the cheap shark's fin and the more expensive one.

While the way they treat the shark after they get the fin is cruel, it is those anti meat eating activists who have perpetuated the myth that 'fake' shark's fin tastes the same as real one. Fake shark's fin taste as real as the fake meat they serve at vegetarian restaurants here.

AGAIN, as an industry professional with over 20 years experience some of which was in Hong Kong & Beijing, its all about the soup! The soup is the flavour the fin is the texture ONLY.

It has no discernible taste whatsoever - If your yardstick is a foodcourt in BKK then i have nothing more to add

Go take a piece of chicken, boil or steam it with nothing and that piece of meat is tasteless too.

As a self proclaimed industry professional, if you don't understand how important texture is then you must really suck at whatever you claim to do.

What I said about the food court was an example to refute your ridiculous claims that fake, low grade and high quality shark's fin all taste the same. They do not. And while I don't like the way they treat the sharks to get their fin, I find it offensive some people would lie and mislead others about this issue.

Edited July 9, 2013 by gl555

[Guest]

Great to have some good news from Phuket. Some hotels put their values above the almighty money.

I would not have anything against shark fin soup if the whole sharks would be prepared as food.

Agree that would be a lot better.

But even then, humanity is fishing away sharks at an incredible speed, and sharks are extremely important to keep the underwater world balanced. Some shark species are already protected, others deserve much more protection than they are getting.

Leaving the sharks alone is the best thing we can do at the moment.

I agree as well.

I was thinking along the lines that the boats which catch the sharks and take only the fins, would require much more space to store the rest of the sharks as well. Therefore the amount of sharks which can be fetched on one trip would be much less. This would increase the price of the shark fins and more people could be forced to think of buying alternatives.

[Dararasmi]

Thirty hotels is a nice start. Though, sad to say, I doubt they'll get many more to join the ban. There's money to be made in serving that vile dish. And that, as we all know, is the name of the game.

[eezergood]

Thirty hotels is a nice start. Though, sad to say, I doubt they'll get many more to join the ban. There's money to be made in serving that vile dish. And that, as we all know, is the name of the game.

My previous hotel WILL NEVER sign this!

Far too much business to be lost, almost every wedding (CHinese style food) will have this

Edited July 9, 2013 by eezergood

[gl555]

Self proclaimed 'industry professional.'

Oooooo.

Ahhhhhan

your point is what?

I am more than confident in my abilites, and they include being able to make shark fin. Whereas I asked for you to describe the taste of sharksfin, i am yet to see it. NOT the broth, the fin!

Would you like to be know as the food court professional?

I've eaten more shark's fin of all grades in my years to know the difference in grades and to differentiate between good and cheap shark's fin. I sure as hell can diffentiate between real and fake shark's fin. I'm not special. Many other people can do that also.

All we have are your claims of 'professionalism'. And your lies that they all taste the same. Good for you!

The fact of the matter is, for years the anti shark's fin people have come up with all sorts of BS to mislead people about shark's fin.

First they told us about how cruel finning is and how it would make sharks extinct. That's true but it didn't really put a dent in the consumption.

Then they came up with the ridiculous lie that consuming shark's fin would make men sterile!

Now they're trying once again to mislead people by telling them that eating fake shark's fin is the same as eating real shark's fin because they taste the same! They do not. So certain 'industry professionals' are either one of those lying anti shark's fin activists or they're just not really professional as they claim to be.

Edited July 9, 2013 by gl555

[Jingthing]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

Describe the taste!

Its bland, the fin is used for texture reasons only. Aside from some rubbish links to "making power' its a face making exercise. Lots of hotels in BKK are acutally serving fake fin, and some dont even know.

I tried it once just to know what it tastes like.

It's pleasant enough but once was enough for me for life.

I agree texture is the big part of it, but in Chinese food texture matters a lot.

However, I think the big draw in Asia for it is STATUS. It's expensive so look at me, I can eat expensive chow.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Jingthing

[eezergood]

Describe the taste????

Its all about the soup, i am not a liar! Your reading ability is not up to par!

[eezergood]

I also suspect that those hotels that have, so far, signed up have done so because they either dont offer sharks fin or stand to loose such a small amount of business that it makes no difference either way.

[gl555]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

Describe the taste!

Its bland, the fin is used for texture reasons only. Aside from some rubbish links to "making power' its a face making exercise. Lots of hotels in BKK are acutally serving fake fin, and some dont even know.

I tried it once just to know what it tastes like.

It's pleasant enough but once was enough for me for life.

I agree texture is the big part of it, but in Chinese food texture matters a lot.

However, I think the big draw in Asia for it is STATUS. It's expensive so look at me, I can eat expensive chow.

It is true. Many rich people eat it as a status symbol. These are the same people who drink red wine with ice and drink Johnnie Walker Blue with soda.

But there are many people like myself(I'm hardly rich) who truly enjoy the taste of it and I think it's pure rubbish that people who don't really know better say fake shark's fin tastes the same as real shark's fin.

[eezergood]

Let me state, that I find sharks fin incredibly wasteful & pointless! The soup can be great, #1 especially & i am not some activist. If the whole animal was used & it had a clear defined taste I would have no problems with it.

As such I have no problems eating Foie Gras, Veal etc..... but this is the most over rated & pointless addition to a good soup ever!

[gl555]

so what does it taste like?

I am aghast with anticipation of your experience

I've already said it myself, there's no taste! It's for the texture which is slightly jelly like. And it's that texture that makes the soup tasty! You're not supposed to just swallow the f'ing soup like you would a bowl of Campbells soup. You chew the shark's fin just a little bit before you swallow it down. And it's from there, from the texture, you can 'taste' the grade of the shark's fin and you sure as hell can tell if it's faux shark's fin.

Edited July 9, 2013 by LivinginKata
insult removed

[morpho]

[LivinginKata]

Enough with the trading insults by 2 members. Posts removed and any more will be removed without notice.

[DualSportBiker]

I like eating it. Tastes great. If they ever ban it everywhere, I'm ok with it but while it's still around, I have it once a fortnight when I head to Yaowarat.

Describe the taste!

Its bland, the fin is used for texture reasons only. Aside from some rubbish links to "making power' its a face making exercise. Lots of hotels in BKK are acutally serving fake fin, and some dont even know.

I tried it once just to know what it tastes like.

It's pleasant enough but once was enough for me for life.

I agree texture is the big part of it, but in Chinese food texture matters a lot.

However, I think the big draw in Asia for it is STATUS. It's expensive so look at me, I can eat expensive chow.

It is true. Many rich people eat it as a status symbol. These are the same people who drink red wine with ice and drink Johnnie Walker Blue with soda.

But there are many people like myself(I'm hardly rich) who truly enjoy the taste of it and I think it's pure rubbish that people who don't really know better say fake shark's fin tastes the same as real shark's fin.

Eating it for its taste, texture or perception of status - all are morally suspect. Being a self-proclaimed expert in a field of dubious morality is hardly a line for your resumé.

Shark's fin soup is wasteful and the impact of removing the top-predator from that food chain is unclear. Continuing to eat something that itself is tasteless and requires over 90% of the animal to be thrown out, well, I find it repugnant. That something is pleasant, or pleases an individual is not sufficient reason to ignore all other aspects. That something is traditional adds no moral weight to the issue. As of today, we know that continuing will have an everlasting impact on marine life that we cannot calculate, and continuing the practice be it out of ignorance or personal satisfaction should not be satisfactory defence.