(CN--HKG) Hotels feel the bite as Disney scraps shark's fin soup

[Guest guest]

Thursday, June 30, 2005 South China Morning Post

http://www.scmp.com/

by SIMON PARRY

 

A Hong Kong warehouse worker shovels shark fins stocked for the

city's restaurants. Experts say up to 40 million fish are killed a

year. Agence France-Presse photo

 

No one will have derived less enjoyment from the spectacle of

Disney's vilification by conservationists for serving shark's fin

soup at its Hong Kong theme park than the managers of the city's five-

star hotels.

Mickey and his friends are not the only culprits. All of Hong Kong's

top hotels sell it and profit handsomely from wedding banquets, where

the parents of the bride and groom serve it to their guests as a

display of wealth and largesse.

 

Now that Disney has conceded defeat and dropped shark's fin soup from

the menu, hoteliers have even more reason to stir uncomfortably in

their seats, because the green groups have got more big fish to fry -

starting with them.

 

" I am not going to name names or say: `You are the next target', "

said Professor Brian Darvell of the University of Hong Kong, who

first alerted conservationists to Disney's decision to sell shark's

fin soup and led a global campaign to force the US entertainment

giant to back down. " They [the hotels] are all on notice though, and

it would be nicer if everyone voluntarily came out and said, `We are

eschewing shark's fin soup. We have seen what happens. We have

considered our position. We are taking it off the menu.' "

 

Professor Darvell is under no illusions about the scale of the task

in a city where the majority of the world's shark fins are consumed

or trans-shipped to the mainland. " This is a slow process, but I

believe more hotels and restaurants might follow Disney's example,

and take this on, " he said.

 

Despite the symbolic importance of Disney's decision last week,

environmentalists accept that the theme park could never have

accounted for more than a fraction of the sales of shark's fin soup

in Hong Kong.

 

" Regrettably, it is a drop in the bucket, " said Eric Bohm, Chief

Executive Officer of the Hong Kong World Wide Fund for Nature

(WWF). " The trade in shark fins is huge. Thirty to 40 million sharks

a year are being harvested. "

 

Mr Bohm was caught off guard by the speed of Disney's decision to

take shark's fin off the menu a week ago and said he believed the

protest petition drawn up by children at the West Island School

precipitated the climb-down.

 

" The petition from the West Island School was the piece de

resistance, " he said. " The children are Disney's principal market.

Parents pay, but the children are the consumers. Suddenly Disney woke

up to that. "

 

Professor Darvell agreed. " They were embarrassed by the kids, " he

said. " Disney make great play of their green credibility. They like

to think they are a big educational force, and they certainly have

control over a lot of young minds.

 

" But then they turn around and do something which is a direct

contradiction of their environmental policy. They assume this

environmental mantle and say how important it is in order to win the

hearts of children, and they betrayed them. "

 

The WWF is preparing to continue its campaign against the shark fin

trade to try to reduce consumption in Hong Kong and possibly

introduce a quota system to limit imports. Mr Bohm sees children as

part of the strategy.

 

" We have to address the consumer, " he said. " We know we can do it

through our education programmes which go to 40,000 children in Hong

Kong and 500,000 students in China.

 

" The trick is how to influence the present consumers. Children can

influence their mums and dads, but when you are at a wedding banquet,

what do you do? The children won't hold sway there. "

 

For now, there is deadlock.

 

" We are definitely keeping shark's fin soup on the menu, " said

Harrison Lun Yu-man, food and beverage manager at the

InterContinental hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.

 

" We are aware of what the green groups are saying, but we are also

looking at what our customers want. It is different for Disney

because they are brand new, so if it is their policy from the

beginning not to serve shark's fin, it may be easier for them to

explain to customers.

 

" But we have for a long time been offering shark's fin at wedding

banquets. The risk of making that change will have a very big impact

on our business. "

 

Mr Lun said hoteliers had watched the debate at Disney, but said it

was premature for a territory-wide move to remove shark's fin soup

from wedding banquets.

 

" Serving shark's fin soup is a Chinese tradition, " he said. " It gives

face to people and, unfortunately, I think to change that perception

will definitely take some time.

 

" Disney is a theme park. If people marry there, it is not only for

the food, but for the experience. We can only say to people, `We have

a very nice ballroom'. If we stopped serving shark's fin at wedding

banquets, there are other hotels with nice ballrooms that will serve

shark's fin soup as well. "

 

Therese Necio-Ortega, director of communications at the JW Marriott

in Hong Kong, said her hotel was looking at ways of encouraging

people not to choose shark's fin, but said imposing an immediate ban

on it would be impractical.

 

" We would have to explain to stakeholders why the [hotel's] revenue

is going to be $100,000 less for the month, " she said. " If we don't

serve shark's fin, then the owners are going to say, `Where can you

recoup that $100,000?' Beyond that, what would happen to the shark's-

fin trader? There must be alternative options before we just say,

`No, let's not serve it.' There must be positive solutions. We can't

just leave some groups hanging. It is not fair. "

 

Ms Necio-Ortega said hotel staff were already trying to steer diners

away from shark's fin soup.

 

" We try to present other dishes, like abalone, as an alternative, "

she said. " But if the client insists, we have to serve it because it

is their wedding party. We have to work to persuade the public who

still feel that they will lose face if they have a wedding without

shark's fin. "

 

Professor Darvell said that the chances of seeing shark's fin removed

from sale altogether in Hong Kong were slim. " I don't know whether I

will live to see it, but I think we can reduce the volume

substantially, " he said.

 

" It is a crying shame, the damage that is being done everywhere for

the sake of the local market.

 

" When you destroy a predator species, it affects all chains of life

and there is no chance of it ever recovering ... Do that to every

reef, every atoll, and the result is horrible to contemplate. "