Is Banning Shark's Fin Racist?

how come everything has to come down to "racism"? it's sad to see how selfish society can be. how does one honestly believe that it's just a way to shut down asian culture and not to protect this awful cruelty being done to these creatures and their ecosystem?!

omg how could you guys bee doing this.. this is just so cruel imagine that was your dauther getting cut in peaces!! think!!! where's your brain at!

What, seriously?  Our concern for sharks having their fins hacked off by the millions and callously thrown back to die and having their numbers dangerously reduced is racially motivated??  Yee, get over yourself! - and also, it is appropriate to step back and assess the validity and appropriateness of what different races do.  Yee, if Asians don't want to be under this spotlight then maybe they should stop callously and indulgently slaughtering sharks, whales and dolphins.   And the same judgement goes for any other race or culture who systematically abuse a species for profit and indulgence.

Is insisting on pre-stunning before Halal slaughter for sentient animals racist? Is outlawing the slaughter of rhinoceros for their tusks racist? Is banning the extraction of bear bile racist?

The rights and welfare of other sentient beings MUST always come before any cultural considerations. Have your culture and traditions AS LONG AS those cultures and traditions OR culinary preferences do not (more than the most "humane" methods of slaughter available) cause overt distress to another animal or in any way have a negative effect on a healthy population.

I say, by that rationale, we would outlaw the killing of all other Earthlings for food, but then... I'm a connected idealist, not a disconnected realist.

Let's examine dishes from all different culture and see what other things we can ban.  How about banning French dish "goose-liver".

I know, maybe we'll kill the sharks instead of just taking their fins.

73 million sharks are killed annually justfor their fins.  The world population ofsharks has declined 90 percent in however many years. Facts are facts andcannot be changed by shouting the loudest or offended Asian officials throwingthe racist card. Who gives a **** if you’re offended that shark finning shouldbe made illegal? The sharks sure as hell suffer more pain than just offense.Start thinking about facts and logic and quit with the retorts and arguments.THERE IS NO ARGUMENT! Shark populations are down and the reason is becausepeople are cutting of their fins and throwing them back into the ocean to DIE.YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE FACTS! Thanks a lot everyone who eats shark-fin soup!Thanks to your selfish need to enjoy ONE FREAKIN RECIPE OF SOUP, the world willsoon be without sharks. Thanks so so much. You’re all jerks. If one personresponds to this in disagreement I will scream! It’s not up for debate! WhatSHOULD be up for debate is which way to go about fixing it. There is ZERO pointto arguing about who is offended because there is no time to be delicate andpander to people ego’s. This is a time sensitive issue so shut the hell up andfix the mess you’ve made. Shark fin soup is not Necessaryto human survival.

This comment is aimed at no one inparticular.

poor sharks...

Banning shark fin would not be racist: foie gras, another cultural culinary tradition, has already been banned.

There is no reason to eat ANY dish, of any culture, that leads to the endangerment of a species.

If Chinese all over the world continue to consume shark fin soup, sharks, which have been around for hundreds of millions of years, will be decimated in our lifetime, with adverse effects on our environment. I'm a Chinese immigrant and I personally feel that because Chinese have caused the depletion of sharks in the ocean, we have an added responsibility to support this ban.

The shark fin trade has parallels to the ivory trade and our experience with ivory demonstrates that the only way to enforce the ban is to cut the demand.

No more shark fins soup! We should also say no to eating tuna. The widespread popularity of sushi is depleting the tuna species.

Leland Yee continues to help California Chinatowns import live, diseased, and invasive turtles and frogs by the ton. He and the live-market merchants recently accused the CA Fish and Game Commission, environmentalists and animal advocates of racism when we concluded that issuing permits for the importation of live, invasive turtles and frogs is inappropriate. If a small group of people wants to import live invasive apple moths, should California let them? Bizarrely, Yee and his cohorts claim that eating turtles is a Chinese culture, when it really is not. (I am an immigrant Chinese, and I know.) The overwhelming majority of Chinese from China, Taiwan and other parts of Asia do not eat turtles and have not even heard of such a practice. The wild turtles are cut apart in the live markets while fully conscious. I have seen them still struggling after their shells were cut away, organs exposed, their eyes showing great agony (and mouth agape). Most of the imported frogs tested positive for chytrid fungus, which caused the extinction of well over a hundred frog species. The wild turtles sold tested positive for parasites and other diseases like E. coli, salmonella, pasturella (all three potentially fatal in humans), giardia, blood parasites, even one case of malaria. It is illegal to sell such quality of food. It puts people's health at risk and is "reverse" discrimination. It is not feasible to control live creatures once they come over the border. Exceptions should only be allowed for special institutions. If someone tells me my food is diseased, I would dump it immediately and sound the alarm. Why not Leland?

Livestock in America are widely and routinely abused but I don't see anyone clamouring for a ban on chickens or pork. Even when news of KFC abuse of chickens surfaced, all we heard were calls for regulation of the industry. But when similar abuse happened to sharks, where their fins are cut off and they are thrown back into the water, suddenly there is an uproar asking for the ban of shark fins. Why isn't there a call to regulate the industry rather than ban it outright? Why the difference? Is it because Chinese food is somehow not normal food as compared to burgers and fried chicken?

Ditto for the depleting fish stocks. There are depleting fish stocks everywhere, I don't hear for a ban on any fish other than sharks and tuna (which is considered a delicay by Japan - another non-western country). All there are are calls for regulation.

I think the animal rights/ environmentalists would do everyone a favour by staying off the bloody race and xenophobia card and just apply the same standards to sharks like they do to every other animals.

And regulation of the industry is going to be much more effective than an outright ban. Why? Because most of the shark fins harvested today are already ILLEGAL. Yes, cutting off the fins and throwing the shark back into the sea is already ILLEGAL and people are still doing. So why don't we stop talking about taking moral positions here by requesting for a ban and start doing something about it by stopping fishermen from illegally fishing in the first place.

And I am sure countries like China and Singapore would be much more convinced by the arguments for regulations than a stupid ban which is not going to change anything!

There, I've said the often overlooked arguments for not banning sharkfins. Go on and flame me, I don't care. But just know that even if shark fins are banned in San Francisco, it's not going to make a single difference at all in the situation.

"If shark fin soup is so damned important to you, go get a license, buy a few pieces of squid, and catch yourself a leopard/spiny dogfish/sevengill/smoothhound/or yes even a soupfin shark (legal and native here). It's easy, cheap (cheapest shark fin soup in North America) fun for the whole family, and the best part is this: you can do with the shark's fins whatever the hell you please." - http://monkeyfacenews.typepad....

Dear Senator Yee,

I read with great pleasure of the introduction on February 14th of AB-376, the California Shark Fin Bill. I also read your comments in the February 15th edition of the SF Weekly Foodie guide blog. Sir, in that you stated that a state wide ban on Shark Fin products would basically be an "attack on Asian culture." Pulling the racist angle in this process is in my opinion a last ditch attempt to suggest that the vile practice of shark finning - where sharks are caught, their fins hacked off still living animals who are then dumped back into the Oceans to drown or fall victim to other predators - still has a place in our society.

As a species we pride ourselves on our intelligence, on our ability to adapt and change as our surrounding environment requires. There are many aspects of many cultures which have changed, evolved over time to accept what is culturally and socially acceptable in the modern day and age. As Bear Bating in the middle ages in Europe, as Slavery the World over and as the binding of women's feet for perceived beauty to mention a few, it is time to realize that shark finning is now out of control. What was once a culturally acceptable, if not distasteful, aspect to many has since transcended into a multi-billion dollar commercial industry controlled in a large part by organized crime elements and corrupt officials.

When canned sharks fin soup can now be bought in convenience stores, fast food outlets and shopping malls, when an estimated 73 million sharks are killed annually just for their fins to supply this avarice, where is the dignity, the cultural pride in this? I ask you to take a long look at this issue before impeding the Bill.

Sir, the changing face of our planet and its natural resources requires that people and its varied cultures change. That which sustains us deserves respect in return. We can no longer continue to just take, the time is upon us now to give something back.

Sharks regulate the balance of nature in our Oceans, without them that finely tuned ecosystem becomes ineffective. We all need healthy seas, not just for now but into the future, and that includes the future generations of your family too. I don't think you would like for them to realize that you opposed the introduction of a Bill that would prevent the destruction of the Oceans they depend on for their future sustenance?

I hereby request that you do the right thing Mr. Senator, that you accept the fact that the spoils of an industry so inhumane has no longer a place in our modern society, to defend it would be to suggest that you agree with the inhumanity it represents. Palau, the Maldive Islands, Guam and Hawaii to name a few have already embraced this fact and acted accordingly. It is now time for California to join that list.

I implore you sir, for you, your future family generations and for the well being of our Oceans, to do the right thing.

Sincerely,

A Proud Member of The Global Shark Initiative.

its just too easy to blame this as a racial issue, the word racist tends to scare people and it must be used in the right context and not as a cheap ploy to try and keep those people quiet who would like to have some wildlife remain on the planet, unacceptable! The simple fact of the matter is that if the Far east do not stop their drastic overconsumption and unsustainable harvesting of shark fins their will be no cultural tradition left, then what???

If our request to ban over fishing of shark populations and to reduce shark finning amounts to racism then your intentions to back the slaughter of 73 million sharks a year amounts to the equivalent of genocide! go figure.

Lee, it is not racist. Get over yourself. Do you understand that sharks are on the demise due to any culture killing them to oblivion!?

Racist my foot! Give us a break. How about thinking of those poor sharks being put through that and dropped back into the sea not knowing why they are hurting. Please, racist let's put a stop to that racist bit. Maybe we can remove that word completely from the dictionary etc.

No Way, no how is this racist. Killing sharks to eat is independent of race. Only idiots eat shark fin soup.

It's not racist. Shark fin soup in mainstream Chinese culture has only been around for 10-20 years. In those same 10-20 years most shark populations around the world have plummeted but 90%! 90% for a damn bowl of soup. Despicable.

It is true that the soup has been around since the Ming dynasty but was only served to emperors and royalty. Now it's served to the new royalty, the rich and affluent. It's a way for these self-centered people to show off to their friends and say how rich they are.

I love the comment in the article on the bill stating "it's too broad, banning the sale of the fins from properly fished sharks caught for their meat". There are no properly fished shark fins. Yes, it's illegal to fin in US waters, but the current laws do not ban imported fins all of which (as we all know) are from sharks that have been finned at sea. There are no sustainable shark fishing practices period.

It's not about race. It's not even about culture (despite what some people might like to purport). It's about killing a vital component to the ocean at a rate that will soon cause all sharks to be extinct.

I understand that shark fin soup is a huge industry in China, but if you're going to take the fins, then take and use the entire shark. They're going to die without their fins, from bleeding and being unable to swim. Use the meat and cartilage for makeup, food, and cancer research!

Please do not let the past destrory the future.

Playing the race card??? LAME.Oh yeah fuck egg rolls also!

you are so illogical its not even funny. Stop being in denial. Killing sharks isnt racist its SELFISH because you are putting every other animal on the planet at risk!! Cultures are not permanent and things HAVE to change at some point.

OMW~! when will we all stop trying be so bloody politically correct? Its KILLING our planet~! Just face it, some people WILL be offended some of the time. Some people will not like what you have to say or do. Life is tough, build a bloody bridge and GET OVER it already~! I do not care what race or culture or religion you are, just practice SUSTAINABLE USE OF RESOURCES~! A species on the verge of collapse is NOT being used sustainably. Du-uh Mr Yee, is that too technical for you? And shark fin soup is just a dish, its NOT linked to any sacraments or specific religious or cultural tenets. Did it occur to you people ate it because they lived near the sea??? So go live near the sea~! Go catch it yourself, thats how people in your culture USED to do it, right? Come on, you know its crap, you KNOW there is a crisis in terms of marine species. Where is MY cultural and human right to SAVE the sharks and Bluefin tuna and Atalantic cod for future generations of MY culture?~! Why is wanting to save any "white" cultural belief or feeling made to sound racist? People attack my culture, and my religion, and my race every day and expect me to smile and accept it. What about the rights of the sharks? Oh i forgot they are supposedly non-thinking beings... hmmm but then most of our world politicans appear to be non-thinking beings too, perhaps we should start making "essence of politician's brain soup"... oh wait that resource is already too scarce~! I guess its my day to NOT be PC~!

To compare Banning Shark Finning with racism shows an ignorance of the practice by Mr Lee

The sharks are being overfished so soon he will have nothing to jump up and down about when the sharks are all gone

The way that sharks are caught finned and then thrown back alive is inhumane - I would question Mr Lee morality and humanity if he feels that this practice is acceptable - would he be happy to pass a field of cows with legs and chunks cut out of them bleeding to death.

我是華人，我拒絕再食魚翅，也讚成立法禁止魚翅買賣。

I am a Chinese; I say no to shark fin soup, and I support banning shark fin trade.

李銳華　新澤西州Clement Lee, New Jersey

That's the dumbest (and most self-evident) title I've seen in a long time. OF COURSE NOT!

Assemblymember Paul Fong (the bill's principal author) is of Chinese descent, as is Senator Leland Yee. But Mr. Fong has the good sense to put environmental protection and animal welfare ahead of archaic and brutal "cultural" practices. Might the fact that Mr. Yee is running for the mayor's office in San Francisco, and is pandering to his would-be constituents? I would wager that the vast majority of those, including Asian-Americans, are in support of the ban. Or will be, once they learn the facts.

Meanwhile, I'd recommend a boycott of all restaurants which serve this over-priced luxury item ($300-$700 per pound, and is nothing but chewy,tasteless gristle). Reportedly, many of the fans of shark fin soup (falsely) believe it to be an aphrodisiac. We're on the verge of wiping out an entire family of marine animals and destorying the marine environment, and for what? Soup and superstition. Not acceptable!

ALL LEGISLATORS MAY BE WRITTEN C/O THE STATE CAPITOL, SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 IN SUPPORT OF AB 376.

Heartfelt thanks to Assemblymember Paul Fong for his progressive stance. His fellow San Francisco legislators need to hear from us, too: Senator Mark Leno and Assemblymembers Fiona Ma and Tom Ammiano. All of these people (Yee included) have strong environmental and animal welfare records. Here's hoping Senator Yee soon sees the error of his ways....

I'll save the horrors of the live animal food markets for another day (though these issues are closely related).

Sincerely,Eric Mills, coordinatorACTION FOR ANIMALS

I'm tired of people hiding behind their claims of "tradition" and "culture". Foot binding was a traditional custom, why don't people still practice this?

Historically, traditions have often included culturally sanctioned abuse that when examined, needed to be evaluated for its ethical value. Unfortunately women were property, to be abused at the owner's discretion. Similarly, Africans were sold into slavery and abused in the name of culture and tradition.

Also, The disparity in the high value of shark fins compared to shark meat provides an incentive for the wasteful, unsustainable, and socially irresponsible practice of shark finning. Given the high market value of the shark's fin, it is important to note a great deal of the shark finning industry is illegal and controlled by groups not unlike drug cartels with evidence of links to organized crime. Shark fin's are worth so much that only trafficking drugs rivals fins for profit.

Using the SF Gate comments section as a gauge of the conservation movement's ideas is like using a Klan rally to gauge the conservation movement's ideas. The Gate's comment section is a zoo full of lunatics who scream and yell and so on.

I think Yee playing the race card this early in the Mayor's race makes me less likely to vote for him in the fall, since he's refusing to even consider that if we don't do something, his precious soup stock will be extinct.

This is the problem with anything that was once enjoyed by a few that becomes a mass market item. Same goes for bird's nest soup (in SE Asia they're building concrete caves to make more nests etc) or hamburgers (if everyone ate burgers at the volume Americans do, it would be a disaster, and is in many places). Repeat with (insert rare dish or animal here) and you can make the case against a lot of dishes from every culture.

this is just silly...

My guess is Yee is being paid to make such an outlandish statement. Imagine if this was about tiger meat or bear paw.

It isn't about culture Yee... it's about ecological collapse.

Exactly so, SFoodie. Spot on. This has nothing to do with anyone's ethnicity nor their culture, but rather the imminent collapse of an animal population. There is no way to regulate the take of shark fin or ensure the fins are only taken from legally harvested shark in a sustainable manner. The problem has gottne much larger and more dire than that. Extinctions and near extinctions are on hand. We need to do something about it now by totally banning the possession, sale, or use of shark fin.

Hi There,

we wrestled with this issue when doing a protest this chinese new year in china town in soho london. Apart from nearly getting arrested it all went well!

Check it out:

http://ecohustler.co.uk/2011/0...

I'm a Chinese living in HK, a key trading port of shark fin.I don't agree that it's connected with racism nor cultural discrimination. At most, it's a sanction against to a dish of food.Checking through history and cultural practices of the whole China, shark fin is just a kind of luxury food of relatively short history and practiced in a few coastal provinces of China. Tracing back, shark fin only started in Ming and Ching dynasty ( only few hundred years) amongst the rich people searching for exotic food to please government officials and distinguish themselves from general people. It didn't reach the vast public. It's just a kind of exotic dish. If all exotic food of China have to be preserved at all cost. People better fight for bear palm, will you? Bear palm has a much longer history!Talking back to culture, every culture has a value attached. Every Chinese understand the story and meaning behind rice lotus dumpling serving during the Dragon Boat Festival. What's the value behind shark fin? - pleasing officials,..finding ways of spending money away....showing off...bribery...? They're never part of Chinese culture. We talk about 禮義廉恥!Shark fin is a big business. One can rightly stand up and speak for his living. I respect those who are honest, but just cannot accept those bending all possible argument to his favour.

I am HK Chinese. I think this is not racist. If you are a responsible Chinese, you should know when to stop the wrongdoing. B4 it was too late. Alan Alan

"This is the ocean we rely upon for our food, and to feed humanity in all countries in the world. There are sustainable choices- including one for shark fin soup."

Totally lame. Eat the whole shark or don't kill it plain and simple. This is no more racist than the outlawing of foie gras.

Banning shark's fin has nothing to do with racism. It is about whether we, the human being, could stop depleting the marine natural resources in such an unsustainable manner in time to prevent the collapse of our civilization.

A Chinese from Hong Kong

Very well said. As a shark biologist and conservationist, I am very sad to see the racist rhetoric. Unfortunately, Mr Yee's press conference which preempted the Bill launch had racial undertones that are diluting the argument that this is about conservation and sustainability. This Bill is supported by another large group of Asian Americans who have formed an alliance for ocean harmony. This is the ocean we rely upon for our food, and to feed humanity in all countries in the world. There are sustainable choices- including one for shark fin soup.learn more at seastewards.org

California's Shark Fin Battle - Kicking in the Front Door?

http://www.sharkdiver.com/blog...

I don't think this is, but when the LGBT kooks had the live chicken vendors banned from the Civic Center farmers market - that was racist.

"No matter who the primary "market" is, overconsumption is taking sharks ― and bluefin tuna, and Atlantic cod, and hundreds of other species ― away from all of us, and we all have a right to demand action."

Interesting. Then you must support a similar ban on bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, and any animal that is endangered.