by Claudia Li, Shark Truth Founder

It wasn't until I watched Sharkwater last year that I realized how uninformed I was about sharks and shark finning:

1. Sharks are top predators – important animals that help maintain the health and balance of our ocean ecosystem, which we depend on;

2. Sharks are misunderstood animals that rarely attack or kill;

3. Shark finning is the major cause of the demise of shark populations around the world and is a cruel and wasteful industry.

And the fact that had the biggest impact on me: sharks are being pushed towards extinction due to the increasing consumer demand for the Chinese delicacy, shark fin soup. Only weeks before watching Sharkwater, I had drunk shark fin soup at a family wedding banquet.

As a person of Chinese heritage, I realized that it was our responsibility to take leadership on this issue. After conducting some research on past strategies to combat shark fin soup consumption, I realized that there was a lack of culturally sensitive communication toward my community and our people. Thus, I founded Shark Truth to promote awareness about shark fin soup from within my community.

Shark fin soup is part of what is known as the Big 4 dishes in Chinese cuisine and is most popularly served at wedding banquets. The Big 4 include abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin and fish maw or swim bladder. Shark fin soup is a particularly important dish as it represents symbol and face: we used to say that a bride marrying into a family without shark fin at the banquet table was marrying into a poor family.

Not only is this simply a fable, but we need to recognize that this fable is threatening sharks populations around the world with extinction. We need to remove shark fin from the menu for the unsustainable and cruel dish that it is.

When it comes to shark fin soup, we believe that it starts with the demand and as part of our consumer engagement strategy, we launched the Happy Hearts Love Sharks wedding contest where wedding couples who pledged to Stop the Soup at their wedding banquet sent in a photo or video entry for a chance to win a trip to Mexico to swim with whale sharks – the largest fish in the world. 16 couples from around the world entered the contest, which deterred over 3600 guests from drinking shark fin soup.

Our winning couple this year was Tai Cheng and Julianna Paik who had over 680 guests at their banquet! Check out their video entry below.

If you're in Vancouver and want to join an innovative team dedicated to change, visit SharkTruth.com/join-the-team.

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