Glenn De Baeremaeker proposes city-wide shark fin ban, taking a cue from…Brantford?
A couple weeks ago, the city of Brantford—yes, that Brantford—raised eyebrows when city councillors voted unanimously to ban all foods that include shark fin, making it the first city in Canada to outlaw the controversial ingredient. Although the city had a grand total of zero restaurants serving shark fin, the council intended the ban to act as a model for cities like Toronto, where shark fin can actually be found. Amazingly, it looks like it’s working.
Scarborough councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker will introduce a motion next week calling for a new bylaw to outlaw both the sale and the possession of shark fin in the city. The motion was supported by Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who admits that her decision may make some waves.
From CBC News:
“In order to do the right thing, even though it may make me an unpopular person in the Chinese community for a little while, I think it’s the direction that we should be going in,” she said.
“And I think that we should also be sending a message to our suppliers in the grocery stores and also a message to the restaurateurs that, you know, we will support you and will support ethical fishing.”
Soup made from shark fin is an important food item in traditional Chinese culture and is a fixture at wedding banquets and other significant events.
Wong-Tam said she used to eat the fins, but her family decided to stop consuming them 10 years ago after they decided that shark fishing was unsustainable.
Unsustainable, and pretty inhumane too—the roughly 73 million sharks finned each year are routinely thrown back in the ocean after their fins are sliced off, leaving them to die slowly. According to various marine conservation groups, an estimated one-third of the world’s shark species are in danger of extinction. If the bylaw is passed, something tells us that city council won’t exactly be laying out the welcome mats for Spinal Tap any time soon.
• Councillor moves to ban shark fin in Toronto [Toronto Star]
• Shark fin ban proposed for Toronto [CBC]
It’s about time !!
What a silly thing to become a bylaw. Half of all sharks killed each year are caught accidentally in fishing gear intended for other fish, the kinds of fish we eat every day. There’s also many types of seafood that are unsustainable, not just shark fin. Are we going to pass bylaws on those too? Outlaw canned tuna? And yeah, it’s inhumane, but so is industrial chicken farming. But no councilor is stupid enough to waste taxpayer dollars to ban our quarter chicken dinners with dipping sauce. That just sounds ridiculous, but shark fin. Well…. that’s different!
Really Randy:
You should watch Sharkwater! Farming chickens grown for meat and ravashing the worlds oceans of shark the largest predetor fish are nowhere near the same thing. I for one think this is a great bylaw and shame on the Chinese for eating this part of a fish, that doesn’t even have flavor and no redeeming qualities (except for the bull that it is an aphrodisiac).So what is dumb is allowing this practice to go unchecked. The councillors have my support!
Growing chickens en masse in a tiny, crowded enclosed pen, jacked up on antibiotics, with no access to real sunlight for their short lifetime is inhumane. So is catching a giant shark, cutting off it’s fin, and tossing the carcass back into the sea. Both practices are inhumane, and quite similar because we treat both as a consumer commodity with no regard or respect for life.
Shame on the Chinese? It’s too easy to point the finger at one type cuisine. Many cultures around the world have some type of cruel, unsustainable food that is considered a delicacy. Why not bylaw those?
These bylaws don’t really do anything positive. The key lies in educating consumers about where their food came from and how it was raised, and then letting us make informed decisions with our dollars and cents.
Really Gingergirl?
So Randy, let me get this straight — just because our society does more than one thing that is cruel and barbaric, that means that we should either stop them all, or do nothing about them all? That’s the worst logic I’ve ever heard.
I support this ban, and I am from the Chinese community. A bylaw may not stop the practice completely, and certainly has little effect right now to the industry. But it raises awareness from a collective standpoint and pushes the issue further like a snow ball. When San Francisco decided to do it, it started creating waves over here. So hopefully this will raise the consciousness of the Chinese community, particularly the younger generation, that eating something of no nutritional value for pure social status symbol reasons that contributes to the extinction of a species is not a good thing.
So Michael, I’ll straighten it out for you – I didn’t say we should stop all questionable practices or do nothing at all. I’m saying slapping a bylaw on one type of random inhumane treatment doesn’t solve the problem in our food system. It’s not the best course of action because it won’t really stop people from eating shark fin if they really want to. This is the kind of issue where a consumer needs to make an informed decision and choose not to purchase the product, a bylaw won’t do that. Yes, perhaps it raises awareness of sustainability and humane treatment. But seriously, do we as educated Canadians, need to only learn about something after it’s been banned by a small town that doesn’t consume it anyway?
How about this. Deloraine, Manitoba invokes a bylaw that all foods containing freshwater eel are illegal. Now everyone scramble to make it a bylaw in their own municipalities. Everyone stop eating unagi and support the bylaw. Is this really how it has to be learned?
Whhaaaa lots of crying going on lately on the blog. Isn’t the reason why they eat the shark fin for longevity of life?
It sucks what they do to Sharks for this especially off the coast of S. Africa being most sharks are still young when they are caught. Since most Sharks need years to mature before giving birth this doesn’t help either.
This is ridiculous. If I want a shark fin soup garnished with foie gras, horse sashimi and baby seal flipper than by god I have the right to eat it…and that’s not to say that I would. Personally I think the way shark fins are harvested is a disgrace. BUT, I don’t want some bureaucrat making that decision for me. Know your role. You’re there to serve the community, not dictate to it.
Ban Shark Fin!
Legalize Pot.
A shark fin ban? How puritanical can we get? Oh well most people probably haven’t had shark fin to begin with or real Chinese food for that matter. So who needs food from other cultures or food trucks or anything that dares to break from the monotony of our safe and coddled food, when there’s plump, juicy (sweatshop-raised) chicken wings at half price at Kelsey’s. I heard they pair excellently with Molson Canadian.
Considering our insistence on subsidizing a money-losing and globally unpopular seal hunt, I don’t think we have a leg to stand on when it comes to lecturing other cultures on what they should and shouldn’t eat.
It is clear to all of us that it is not easy to please everyone and at the same time find a proper way to curtail inhumane animal practices (money and greed rule so rip poor animals unless someone figures how to save you). I tried shark fin soup at a lovely Chinese wedding b/c I had no idea about the controversy that surrounds it. I learned after a few of the tables, including mine, decided to protest the dish and not eat it. Don’t blame the Councillor. She is trying to do something about an issue she is passionate about. She really has no idea how to best handle this (neither do I) but at least she is doing something.
Let’s focus on a humane & sustainable method of shark fin harvesting if that’s the only reason for the ban! I totally agree with Randy & sickofcupcakes on their thoughts. This proposed ban is nothing but a xenophobic reaction by its proponents. While we’re at it, let’s ban bluefin tuna, cod, harp seal products, all furs, foie gras, caviar & anything else that is potentially endangered or has been unethically collected.
I believe we should consider bans on foods that are unethically harvested, or at least some kind of mass educational practice lead by the restaurants and businesses that sell these items, so that the consumer can know what it is they are supporting when they hand over their hard-earned cash. I have a feeling the general public doesn’t really know much about where their food comes from, and because of that most of us have fridges full of dishes that came neatly wrapped up at the suffering of another species. Same goes for our restaurant trips. I truly feel most people would not eat certain things if they knew where it came from. Trouble is, most of this information is not public knowledge. Shark fin soup is disgraceful and even if you don’t buy into the animal welfare part of things, consider it’s impact on the environment. Same goes for factory farmed fish, beef, chicken and dairy. Many can somehow turn a blind eye to the cruelties inflicted on the animals who then get served at restaurants, end up in fridges and canned goods in our pantrys, but you can’t argue the effect on global warming, depletion of the ozone and the breakdown of our ocean currents which inevitably sustain our home…the earth. Plus all these outbreaks of E. Coli and Salmonella??? They are coming from the run off of factory farms. Let’s go back to sustainable, cruelty free practices. Then all things…animals, people and the environment can benefit. If a ban is what’s needed to start these conversations, then I’m all for it.
As if this wasn’t already outlawed! Oh wait, we still club Seals…right.
Randy you’re an idiot – about 5% of the worlds population makes the right decision with their ‘dollars and cents’. If we didn’t legislate clean air, animal rights, human rights and basically every kind of right possible you’d have exploitation at the hands of a few lousy decision makers running rampant in our society. Slaughtering an endangered animal isn’t a free market right, it’s an outdated tradition that needs to be re-evaluated in the face of its effects on our environment.
C’mon Jack. It’s easy to pull numbers out of your behind to sound like you have a point. 45% of all people worldwide know that. Did you go to stats Canada for that one? Not all rights are legislated, such as voting. I have the right to vote, but I’m not fined or put in jail if I don’t. Also, one thing to consider is that things like clean air, animal rights, and human rights are not consumer commodities, and their demands are not directly influenced by free market. Dollars and cents drive free market. If people want a commodity, people will find a way to get it, possibly even increasing demand because of its scarcity. I’m saying education is the real answer to the problem. This isn’t solved by a simple bylaw that’s similar to parking my car on the street without a permit, or putting non-organics in my green bin. And you call me an idiot for that? 82.7% of Canadians consider your post serious, but not too serious.
Hallelujah! The time has finally come. As a marine activist and avid scuba diver this time cannot come soon enough. Change must occur now, as we cannot sustain this any longer. 90% of shark species have already been eliminated. It must stop now.
http://www.takingliberties.ca/2011/07/18/brantford-bans-shark-fin-soup-millions-of-tourists-flock-to-city-as-a-result/