Shark Fin Ban Approved By California Senate Committee

By Moye | Friday, August 26, 2011 | 14 Comments

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The controversial shark fin ban may soon become a reality in California, as the LA Times is reporting the bill has been approved by the state Senate committee: “The bill, which would ban the sale, trade and possession of shark fins in California, has been championed by conservation groups as a way to curb the harvest of shark fins…[It] passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 5-2 vote and now moves to the full Senate, where a vote is expected within the next few weeks.” State Assemblyman Paul Fong supports the measure, arguing in favor of protecting the environment. “‘I’m proud of my Chinese roots, and our culture will live and survive without shark’s fin.’” Do you believe this bill is a threat to Chinese culture?

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ak.nospam

This bill is not a threat to Chinese culture, it is a positive move to protect us from the selfish actions of the uneducated masses that choose to ignore the facts. As a chef, sharksfin is tasteless and nutritionally empty. There is no evidence based research that supports the notion of any health or nutritional benefits of sharksfin. On the contrary, there is enough research out there demonstrating that sharks have elevated levels of heavy metals such as mercury. So why do people eat sharksfin – it is a legacy status symbol to show wealth, because of course back in ancient China it would have been near impossible to get a sharksfin from the ocean to inland China. Today all it takes is money and ignorance.
VanCityNights

@ak.nospam Shark fin is tasteless, which is why nobody eats the shark fin alone – it’s served in soap. As a Chef, you should also know that texture in food is very important. The shark fin adds a unique texture to the soap, which has various ingredients in it that makes for a very distinct taste.

Also, I don’t think anyone claims it’s “healthy” anymore. And I don’t think anyone cares whether it’s healthy or not.

Americans treat their poultry and cattle like garbage, killing them in mass factories. And both can be detrimental to health, cattle (redmeat) especially in a country with heart disease as the #1 killer. Lawmakers need to worry about the masses (white-american) diet before they worry about Asians in San Fran that want a soap once a year.

Sheesh, every time I’m on this site the thought, “I’m glad I don’t live in the States” pops up into my head at least once.
VanCityNights

“Protecting the environment.” Wow, that’s a great line coming from a State Assemblyman in a super polluted state. Someone needs to tell Paul Fong that village fisherman in their rowboats trying to catch a shark isn’t why there’s constant smog in California’s air, or why the globe is warming. He should glance around at the LA freeway, and all the fatasses sitting in their SUVs, that’s a problem he should deal with if he wants to “protect the environment.”
moye

@VanCityNights “Protecting the environment” entails more than just air pollution. What’s wrong with promoting measures that seek to protect the ocean’s ecosystem?
VanCityNights

@moye There’s nothing wrong with seeking to protect the ocean’s ecosystem. I love nothing more than effective ways to protect the Earth’s Oceans. What annoys me is when a Californian politician states what they’re doing (banning sharkfin), is “protecting the environment” because he’s obviously talking out of his ass.

If Californian politicians legit wanted to protect the waters off California’s coast, protecting coral reefs would be a much more effective solution than banning shark fins. FYI, “air pollution” majorly effects the ocean’s ecosystem – a lot more than shark finning. CO2 emissions in the air change CO2 levels in the ocean, which in turn effects pH levels in water, effecting coral reefs.

Overfishing, and air pollutants are more crucial factors to helping both “protect the environment” and the “ocean ecosystem.” That’s why I’m annoyed, because it’s just a sad excuse to get a law passed in California that’s really easy to pass, on a group of people (Asian-Americans) that don’t know enough/can’t do anything about it.

It’s easy to crap on a bunch of villagers on rowboats in China, and Asian-Americans that wouldn’t sway the polls anyways, than to deal with American fisherman and large unions.
moye

@VanCityNights I don’t think he’s talking out of his ass. I see a clear connection between protecting the environment (ocean life) and diminishing the demand for shark fin. There are laws in California that protect the coastline wildlife against over fishing and harvesting, like the one to help protect abalone. There were benefits given to hybrid drivers to promote more efficient cars. So it’s not like politicians like Paul Fong are solely targeting shark fins in the whole realm of environmentalism.

I see his support in a measure like this as taking a stance in an issue that he knows will affect and be changed by his community. That’s kind of cool.

What would you propose to help protect the shark population?
ak.nospam

@VanCityNights I can’t really disagree with any of your points, but what is the point in being negative of this one positive step however minor to do something. I can replicate the texture of sharks fin easily with rice noodles, and like you said because there is no real taste to sharks fin, the missing ingredient does not impact on it at all.

Because of the high “value” placed on just the fins, a cruel practice of “finning” is predominant in the industry where they just cut off the fins and throw the shark back into the water to die a slow painful death. In addition to this, sharks have a very important role in the ocean’s ecosystem.

True, there are plenty of other problems to tackle globally with respect to sustainable agriculture and food sourcing. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Sometimes you can’t just start with the most obvious problem because it is the biggest hill to climb.

Anyway, I hope for the sake of all of us lawmakers do indeed turn their attention to unsustainable farming and diet of industrialized nations. Factory farming is very cruel and does not yield product of the highest nutritional content…only the highest yield in terms of volume. That kind of sums up the North American farming in general and Canada is just as guilty in this. It is all about volume.
VanCityNights

@ak.nospam You think shark fining is bad? You think they die a slow painful death? Have you seen the mass kill factories in the United States for cattle?

Also, some people believe that “hunting” or “fishing” for food, is actually more humane for animals. Since that’s a more natural process than growing poultry/cattle in a cage, injecting it with drugs, then sending it off to an automated cleaver.

Of course, you can’t touch on the cattle industry and its cruelty in California. Because, that would be too much blasphemy. The Chinese-American dude in San Fran and his Japanese girlfriend that has a bowl of soup with a shark fin in it once a year? You gotta take it to them though. They’re a big problem that needs to be dealt with now, right?
moye

@VanCityNights So we’re resorting to personal attacks and assumptions about me now? Way to redirect the issue at hand by making this about “me.” Interesting, because I thought we were having an interesting dialogue about environmental measures in California.

You know, reading your comments on this site make me really glad you don’t live in the States.
mwei

@VanCityNights not to mention the fatasses in their SUVs eating McD also contribute to polluting the oceans with all the runoffs from slaughter farms, and the water wasted and the methane contributed to global climate change.
mwei

@moye I’m personally against shark fin soup, but I think the problem here is that it’s primarily targeted against an ethnic group.

all those environmental measures are general enough that no specific group is singled out.

where’s the ban on blue fin tuna at sushi joints?

apparently Sen. Lieu thinks it disproportionately affects Chinese community from another LA Times column. this is a reasonable article, but I disagree with eating shark meat of any form because of the mercury levels:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/07/opinion/la-oe-gold-shark-fin-20110807
mwei

@ak.nospam just for laughs, I think you should repost the above post on showing off wealth (which is true) and ignorance (which is true) with replacing the words “Chinese” and “China” with “Italians” and “Italy” and “French” and “France” and “English” and “UK” and “Germans” and “Germany” etc etc

otherwise, I have no qualms with the notion that shark fin is seriously retarded with the mercury levels – along with blue fin tuna shashimi.
mwei

@ak.nospam the problem here is that the most obvious problem won’t be tackled because politicians know they won’t get elected – *cough* social security *cough*

it’s much easier to target and single out a powerless minority ethnic group – as we have seen time and time again everywhere.
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