Is Sea Island mall on the move? 3 / Oval getting an Olympic museum 5
the richmond
Canadian Tenors brighten patients’ day 3
REVIEW
richmondreview.com Wednesday, october 17, 2012
28 PAGEs
Alice Wong swims into shark fin debate by slurping soup
‘Almost impossible’ to trace shark imports, says NDP MP
by Matthew Hoekstra
by Matthew Hoekstra
Staff Reporter Richmond MP Alice Wong waded into the shark fin soup debate Thursday by sitting down to a bowl of the delicacy at The Jade Seafood Restaurant. Wong appeared at an afternoon press conference in Richmond for Chinese media to back the B.C. Asian Restaurant and Cafe Owners Association’s position to keep shark fin soup on menus. The two-term Conservative MP has been silent on the issue until now. “The whole thing has become so political now,” she said. “I’ve got so many phone calls from constituents who want me to clarify the facts.” She said Canada already bans the practice of shark finning— when a harvester removes fins from a shark and discards the rest of the animal at sea. “In Canada that is illegal. But we have no intention of making shark fin soup illegal.” Wong said Canada only allows shark fin imports if there’s evidence the products have been harvested legally. As for her own tastes, Wong said she “likes” shark fin soup, but said “we don’t always eat it.” “It’s people’s choice. If people like to eat it, they do. If people decide not to, fine. But banning it? This is not the federal government’s decision,” she said. “The product is imported legally, from a legal source, so there’s no basis for us to ban it.” Wong’s appearance infuriated Marley Daviduk of the Vancouver Animal Defense League.
Staff Reporter
Alice Wong samples some shark fin soup Thursday in Richmond.
“I’m absolutely furious that a member of Parliament would address only the Chinese media,” said Daviduk. “Richmond is a multicultural city, as is Canada. It is her job to address everyone.” Wong’s director of communications, Robert Lynch, said he’s “trying to get to the bottom” of why other media weren’t invited to the press conference. Daviduk said because the practice of shark finning is banned in Canada, 450 kilograms of shark fin were import-
ed into Vancouver on Thursday alone. So far this year, more than 71,000 kilograms have been imported, and Daviduk said it’s impossible to determine what fins have been harvested legally. “Sharks are hunted all over the world, a lot of it by poachers…and by the time they get to Canada, they’re just a dried fin. Nobody knows where they came from, who hunted them—there’s no way to prove it.” Daviduk said there’s “no such
thing as sustainably harvesting a species that’s 90 per cent gone.” “Canada is a hotspot for this and it needs to be dealt with— on a federal level, on a provincial level, and if neither of those governments do something, then we have to do something on a municipal level.” In August Daviduk confronted the owner of The Jade restaurant, David Chung, challenging his decision to keep shark fin soup on his menu. See Page 3
Illegally harvested shark fins are being imported into Canada and it’s up to the federal government to stop the practice, an Opposition MP said yesterday. “Canada can become a world leader by saying we’re not going to accept those often illegally harvested fins that are causing…a huge trend in the loss of sharks in the last short number of years,” said Fin Donnelly, the NDP’s deputy critic for Fisheries and Oceans. Donnelly, MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam and Port Moody, has been drumming up support for his private member’s bill that calls for the banning of shark fin imports. The bill could be considered for second reading in early December. But so far Alice Wong isn’t among his supporters, after the Richmond MP dined on a bowl of shark fin soup for some reporters last Thursday. “It seems like she’s trying to deliver a specific message to a specific audience, as opposed to dealing with this issue at hand,” said Donnelly. Donnelly said although Canada’s spiny dogfish shark fishery is a well-managed fishery, sharks elsewhere in the world are being fished without the same certification as required here. “It’s almost impossible without DNA testing to trace where that shark fin is coming from,” said Donnelly, adding imports can be a mix of legal and illegally caught fins. The Union of B.C. Municipalities passed a resolution last month calling on senior governments to take action on shark finning, a practice that Donnelly said threatens one-third of all shark species with extinction and kills up to 75 million sharks each year. A government source confirmed shark fin importers aren’t required to provide detailed information about their products. Richmond Coun. Chak Au believes the federal government should tighten import rules. “We have to target those people who practise shark finning. That is not defensible. We have to tighten up our regulations and enforcement to make sure that all shark fins that come into Canada are legally harvested,” he said. Au said Cathay Pacific Airlines set a good example last month by enacting a policy refusing to transport shark fins without proof they’re legally harvested. Au said the move has significantly reduced the airline’s volume of shark fin shipments.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS: As a teacher, an administrator, a decision maker, a policy maker, and as a Member of the Legislative Assembly
I AM SEEKING RE-ELECTION AS THE MLA FOR RICHMOND EAST I believe in people and the people of Richmond East matter to me. twitter.com/richmondreview
news@RICHMONDREVIEW.COM
office: 604-247-3700
DELIVERY: 604-247-3710
CLASSIFIED: 604-575-5555
NEWSROOM: 604-247-3730