Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World
Created | Updated Jun 4, 2008
A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of
salt, but with more than a grain of truth!
Waiter, There's 'Sumfin' in my Soup!
Many years ago, in my first job, I was invited out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant by my colleagues. Having led a sheltered life I wasn't familiar with restaurants, least of all such an exotic venue. Unwilling to show my naïveté I trotted along and let someone else order for me. It is nigh on 45 years but I still remember the bird's nest soup, and the hottest curry I have ever tasted!
At the time I don't think I believed that the soup had any real connection with birds' nests, though I know better now and would probably not repeat the experience. For those unfamiliar with this Chinese delicacy, it is made from the dried nests of swiftlets, a tiny bird which lives high in caves. The people collecting the nests take great risks in climbing to reach them, and many die each year.
The nests are made of the bird's gooey saliva which eventually hardens. Cleaned and dried, it is soaked overnight in peanut oil until all vestiges of feathers and debris are removed, and cooked with other ingredients. The soup is very much a special dish offered to 'honour' guests, so how could I refuse?
Now I am not particularly squeamish, but I have not had the desire to try snails or frogs' legs, though I will try most things. However, there is one dish in particular that I would not eat on principle, and that is a favourite in Asian countries - Shark fin soup. Not because I don't fancy it, but because of the methods used to procure the raw ingredients.
The soup is served as a celebratory dish in China, and has fuelled shark fishing by Indonesia and Spain in particular. It has also become a popular dish in Australia although shark finning itself is banned there. Environmentalists in Indonesia are trying to formulate legislation to outlaw the practice.
Fishing for shark fins to make the soup involves cutting off the fins, with the main carcass, often still alive, being dumped back into the sea. Quite apart from the waste and loss of species, this is unbelievably cruel.
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has called for governments to impose limits on catches in an effort to stem the tide of destruction. Many sharks live in the open ocean (pelagic) and are more under threat than coastal and deep water species. The list is worrying - thresher, silky, shortfin mako, the whale shark and great white among others. The Great White is probably the most familiar shark to readers, and much maligned, but that is no reason to allow it to be slaughtered in this way. The basking shark, too, is subjected to finning in some areas, yet it is a huge, harmless (and protected) visitor to British shores and a familiar sight around the Cornish coast in the spring.
Seven ocean pelagic shark species are to be added to the IUCN 2008 'Red List' of endangered species, bringing the total to 21.
This in spite of the fact that the European Union outlawed the practice of slaughtering sharks for their fins as long ago as July 2003. At the time, European fishing fleets had become major exporters of fins to Hong Kong, the most significant market in Asia. Back then, environmentalists said around 100 million sharks were caught world-wide every year, mostly just for their fins.
One of the reasons this has such a disastrous effect on world-wide stocks is because sharks take many years to reach sexual maturity and have few offspring. The loss of large numbers of sharks could also mean that other species will disappear, too, upsetting the natural balance of nature.
It is disturbing that illegal fishing is becoming as big a criminal activity as the wildlife trade in general, along with arms, drugs, people smuggling, sex slavery and money laundering. Organised crime syndicates around the world are increasingly involved; the trade fuelled partly by the increasing demand from mainland China for shark fins, abalone, beche-de-mer (sea cucumber) and seahorses.
Shark fin soup is a luxury dish, along with abalone, not something produced to feed hungry nations, and as such should cease to exist forthwith. However, that is unlikely to happen while it is such a lucrative business with criminal involvement. Each bowl of soup sells for as much $100 in a Hong Kong restaurant. The trade is responsible for the huge drop in stocks of as many as 11 species of shark.
Tourists should not fall for the hype, paying through the nose for a novelty delicacy when visiting China, however much they want to absorb the local culture. This is something to watch out for with one of the biggest international events in China's history coming up very soon.
If you are planning a visit to Bejing for the Olympic Games, then it might be interesting to take a look at this the Shark Fin Soup entry mentioned above. It is encouraging to note that Shark fin soup will not be served in a new casino resort being built in Singapore, although it will still be available to very wealthy guests! Hong Kong Disneyland has also rejected use of the dish.
I remember a senior member of a conservation organisation telling me many years ago that the Chinese will eat anything that moves, and I have no quarrel with that, provided it doesn't deplete any species altogether. With millions of mouths to feed and food scarce, you do what you have to do.
But this is not a staple diet issue, it is a delicacy for the 'well heeled'. Yes, it helps provide a living for the fishermen, too, but a fisherman in India, for example, will be paid only $6 per pound of shark fin. Also, it is a tradition, and criticism of such can cause heated arguments in some quarters.
Sharks cannot speak for themselves and major losses of these charismatic creatures of the deep could cause untold harm to our marine life. Every species has its place in the scheme of things. So it is just as well that there are organisations like the IUCN and the Shark Trust prepared to put their heads above the parapet and speak out for their protection.
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