Environmentalists have taken their campaign against Disney's plan to serve shark's fin dishes at its Hong Kong theme park to the territory's political leaders, activists announced yesterday.
One green group urged the government to step in and force the US giant to withdraw the dish, the popularity of which it says has led to sharp declines in shark populations.
"As a major stakeholder in the Disneyland project, we would ask the government to use its considerable influence to persuade Disney to take shark's fin off their menus as an example to other major food outlets and to show, particularly to their younger clients, that Disney and Hong Kong are environmentally responsible," the Friends of Hoi Ha group said in a weekend letter to Environment Minister Sarah Liao (
PHOTO: EPA
The government is the majority shareholder in the Disney resort, which is due to open on Sept. 12. It has chipped in a large chunk of the US$3.2 billion it cost to create the park on an old shipbuilding bay near Hong Kong's international airport. It has also stumped up some US$700 million to decontaminate the former industrial site.
Disney sparked a worldwide protest when it revealed it would serve the dish at wedding banquets.
An e-mail and online campaign was directed at Disney boss Michael Eisner in the US.
Opponents object to the inhumane way in which the fins are removed -- a process called "finning" in which the fins are hacked off and the body thrown back into the sea to die.
Demand in Hong Kong from traders and consumers is believed to account for as much as 80 percent of the global trade in shark's fin. Activists say millions of the fish, many from endangered species, are killed each week to supply the trade.
Disney said it was obliged to serve the dish to satisfy cultural demand for what they say is a traditional dish. Bowing to complaints, it offered to serve shark's fin only on request and said it would hand out leaflets explaining the environmental impact of eating the food.
The letter from Friends of Hoi Ha said Disney's charge that shark's fin was traditional was a smoke screen to allow them to profit from the luxury dish.
"There needs to be a concerted education effort to convince people that eating shark's fin should go the same way as footbinding or opium smoking," said the letter, signed by group chief Nicola Newbery.
"Shark's fin is a Hong Kong problem and Hong Kong's response to the irrefutable scientific evidence now available will decide nothing less than the future of sharks on our planet," it added.
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