Just received this:
"Ministry bans shark's fin soup - Malaysiakini.com ( http://malaysiakini.com/ ) Sep 15, 07 4:16am
Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has struck off shark's fin soup from the menus at official functions, to help conserve the species, a report said today.
Minister Azmi Khalid told the official Bernama news agency that the ministry had made the commitment to the Malaysian Nature Society.
"By refraining from the consumption of shark's fin soup, it is hoped that the ministry would contribute in one way or another towards the current conservation efforts for sharks species," he said.
"Their demise would start off a domino effect, which at each stage could result in the depletion or overpopulation of other fish and marine species leading to an imbalance in the marine ecosystem," he said.
On preservation drive
The society's Selangor branch Marine Group is on a drive to encourage individuals and organisations to stop serving the delicacy at corporate functions.
The marine group had embarked on a series of activities and programmes to promote awareness on the plight of sharks and their importance to the marine ecosystem.
Malaysia's population is dominated by Muslim Malays, but there are also large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities."
What can be done to raise the awareness of this and to try to get other governments and ministries in the region follow suit...?
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Unfortunately this ban has not been truly enforced as many hotels and chinese cuisine restaurants still serve shark's fin soup everywhere. It's just lip service at the end of the day as it is really difficult to lift this dish off the menu from the people who are willing to pay good money for it. On top of that, shark's fin soup is believed to be a must-have dish of status recognition and to mark auspiciousness. Hence it would definitely take more than just awareness campaign to make people realize that we really mean it when we say - that the dire consequences of shark extinction will come in full circle that will eventually affect us human.
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