SHARK’s Fin soup is a staple in the menu of Chinese restaurants in Cebu.
That may change after an appeal to stop serving dishes that use shark meat was made yesterday by the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) in a resolution urging the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) to “discourage its member establishments from serving meals with shark meat as one of its ingredients” and to dissuade others in the industry as well.
The resolution sponsored by PB Member s Jude Durano-Sybico and Thadeo Ouano was approved on mass motion.
A copy will be sent to HRRAC president Cenelyn Manguilimotan of Parklane Hotel.
Sybico cited “vehement indignation expressed by the various sectors of the Cebuano community in social media and traditional venues of public discourse over the trade, sale and use of shark meat, oil, fins and gills.”
The resolution didn’t specify what species of shark to be removed from the menu but a provincial ordinance bans the killing, capture or sale of thresher sharks.
The continued hunting and sale of sharks was reported in Cebu Daily News last month after a concerned Malapascua resident posted a photograph of a juvenile Scalloped Hammerhead shark being sold in a wet market in the northern Cebu town of Daanbantayan.
CDN also reported on the shark trade in barangay Tangke, Talisay City where photos of Thresher sharks being butchered on the shore were posted online by a Talisay resident.
Shark fins are prized in soup, while liver oil is an ingredient in skin whitening pills.
The PB expressed concern about the “high-priced and prized shark fin soup delicacy” which is served in restaurants in Cebu City. Fins are also exported abroad where they fetch a higher price.
According to Sybico, the continued hunting of sharks in the province’s waters may result in an imbalance in the marine ecosystem and could, in turn, affect other fish species.
“The fact that over 400 million years, sharks have ruled the depths is not empty of meaning but one that carries an important ecological message: Being the apex predators, their unabated carnage can have irreversible impact on every species of the marine food web.”
Last week, Ouano also moved to amend Provincial Ordinance No. 2012-05 or the Provincial Fisheries and Aquatic Ordinance of Cebu to include three species of hammerhead sharks under its protection.
Violators face a P5,000 fine or a maximum of one year in jail or both at the discretion of the court.
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