In Stephanie Fung’s UBC Blog, she brought up the topic of banning shark fin soup in a joint effort by Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby to pass a bylaw preventing the appearance of the Chinese delicacy on restaurant menus. The fact that it is a Chinese delicacy does not justify the fact that sharks are being senselessly killed simply to allow people to display their social status. “No matter how it is served, none of the soup’s flavour actually comes from shark fin. It is essentially symbolic.” There are multiple alternatives to the delicacy available, ones that do not endanger a species from extinction while also symbolizing positive Chinese values and ideals. For example, goji berries represents fertility. These alternatives are becoming increasingly popular, with many weddings choosing to stay “Fin Free”. Global campaigns have already resulted in a 20 percent decrease in shark fin consumption in some restaurants.
In terms of business ethics, this appears to be a case of unethical practice, where defending the slaughter of sharks for the purpose of displaying wealth is simply a case of people knowing what is wrong and choosing to adopt values that are self-serving. Shark fin soup is extremely expensive, and if there is high demand for the product, then regardless of the efforts made by the government to prevent illegal finners, there will always be people willing to bypass the law to sell a product of high value and high demand. Although some argue that it is a tradition, and therefore should be allowed to remain, there are many traditions that have been removed, such as foot-binding. What may be a tradition is also an unethical practice.
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