Jaws in danger

• Source: Global Times
• [21:43 July 29 2010]
• Comments

Severed shark fins on a fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean near Mexico on January 29, 2010.

By Liang Chen

In the manager's room of the Golden Tripod Attic Restaurant, Huang Shiyong, 26, was combing his hair in front of a round mirror, trying to calm his nerves. This was a critical day; the day that the restaurant was canceling its much-loved - and highly profitable - shark fin soup.

Huang had worked at the restaurant for over five years, and knew how much money the shark fin soup had brought it. And he felt unprepared to face diners' complaints. A few minutes later, he put down the comb, tightened his collar, and walked into the dining area.

The waiters were trotting around the hall serving guests as usual, and everything seemed to be going fine. Huang let himself relax a little.

Suddenly, a loud, husky voice burst from a corner, "What? Why? How can you compensate us since we came all this way for the soup?"

A middle-aged man with a gold necklace as thick as a finger was shouting at Liu Changbo, a new waiter. Liu's face was red with shame, and he hung his head as the man berated him.

The whole dining hall went quiet and, as he made his way over, Huang assured guests everything would be OK and told them to keep enjoying their food.

After introducing himself, Huang apologized to the man and his guests, "Sorry, sir. We have stopped serving shark fin from today." The man stopped shouting, but stared at Huang, clenching his fists a little.

Huang apologized to the man again and again. He lowered his voice but said firmly, "You may not aware that shark fin contains some dangerous contaminants that are harmful to our health, so, for your health and to help protect the environment, please do not eat shark fin soup from today."

The man thought for a while, and did not comment. Minutes later, he and his three guests agreed to try some new products, frozen seafood from the deep sea.

Costly choices

An hour later, Huang saw off the middle-aged man and his guests at the door. Wiping sweat from his head, Huang said that the cancellation of the shark fin soup had brought them trouble and cost them profits.

The Golden Tripod made a spontaneous decision to stop selling shark fin and other live seafood on April 16, citing health and environmental concerns.

"We're making at least over 100,000 yuan ($14,771) a month less than previously for this sake," Huang said.

In the past, the restaurant had ten different dishes made out of shark fin, like braised shark fin with rice, shark fin soup, shark fin with pock ribs, each costing 200 to 300 yuan a bowl.

The Golden Tripod's moral decision has had little impact on its neighbors. Opposite the restaurant, the mid-range Ziguang Garden Restaurant said that they still sold shark fin.

"Customers relish live seafood. We have no plans to stop selling shark fin," said the manager of the restaurant, surnamed Xiang. But, she did not exclude the possibility of them following the Golden Tripod in canceling the sale in the future.