Here are two articles on HK’s attitude to endangered species.
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To be honest here at HOB we’d have some pretty strict penalties for people who think it is a great idea to eat Shark Fin Soup or use powdered rhino horn for any reason at all – it is beyond ourtrageous
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Personally the best punishment would be one that suites the “crime”? Shark fin eater should be fed to Sharks James Bond style? and Rhino horn users should be dumped in an African safari park and left to fend for themselves
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Three cheers for this hotel chain…
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Hong Kong hotel group strikes shark fin off menu
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1WxXwIIZ_QRh2vpjTop3WqeGMWg?docId=CNG.ef8bffe7af654438842de6fc830a5b08.a1
HONG KONG ? One of Asia’s most prestigious hotel chains said Monday it would stop selling shark fin from January, in a move hailed as a historic breakthrough by campaigners to protect the threatened predators.
The owner of the Peninsula Hotels group said the decision was made “in recognition of the threat facing the global shark population and in line with the company’s sustainability vision”.
“The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., parent company of The Peninsula Hotels, today announced that it will stop serving shark fin at all its group operations, effective 1 January 2012,” the company said in a statement.
The company will honour banquet bookings involving shark fin products made prior to November 21, it added. Shark fin soup is an expensive staple at wedding parties and business banquets in the Hong Kong hotel.
Peninsula operates nine hotels including in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and New York.
Chief executive officer Clement Kwok said: “By removing shark fin from our menus, we hope that our decision can contribute to preserving the marine ecosystem for the world’s future generations.
“As Asia’s oldest hotel company, we also hope that our decision will inspire other hospitality companies to do the same and that our industry will play a role in helping to preserve the biodiversity of our oceans.”
The ban was announced as the European Commission called for a full ban on shark finning at sea — the practice of slicing off the valuable fins and throwing the body overboard to drown.
Environmental activists have long campaigned for governments to ban or severely restrict the sale of shark fin, commonly used in soup which is regarded as a delicacy and health tonic across much of Asia, especially China.
WWF-Hong Kong says the consumption of shark fins is a driving factor behind the threat to shark populations, with more than 180 species considered threatened in 2010 compared with only 15 in 1996.
An individual serving of shark fin soup includes about 30 grams (one ounce) of fin, and a 12-person bowl sells for HK$1,080 (about $140).
A kilogram (two pounds) of premium dried fin can fetch up to HK$10,000 on the street in Hong Kong, or as little as HK$200 for fins of lesser quality.
The demand is such that Hong Kong is the global focus of the shark fin trade, with WWF estimating that around half of the world?s fin catch passes through the city.
“Hong Kong is the global shark fin capital,” WWF shark conservation programme officer Silvy Pun said, adding that this made Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels’ decision all the more important.
“We think that this is a very brave act and it can inspire others to follow,” she said.
Claire Nouvian, founder of the Bloom Association for marine conservation, said: “I view this as a historical tipping point in Hong Kong and sure hope it will spur change amongst other leading hotels in Hong Kong and its vicinity.”
About 73 million sharks are killed every year, with Hong Kong importing about 10,000 tonnes of fins annually for the past decade, WWF said.
Shark fin soup is regarded as an important status symbol for hosts wanting to demonstrate their wealth in Chinese banquets, and is believed to have various health benefits in traditional medicine.
A Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels spokeswoman would not comment on how much shark fin the chain sold in a normal month. She said commercial considerations were not central to the decision.
“Shark fin is only a small part of the food and beverage selection that we offer to our guests,” she told AFP, asking not to be named.
“Obviously the adoption of this policy will have some revenue implications but this is a challenge and we are happy to acknowledge that we are doing the best thing for the environment.”
November to January is seen as the peak season for shark fin consumption in Hong Kong, because of end-of-year office parties and a number of “lucky days” which are popular wedding dates.
The European Commission called Monday for all vessels fishing in EU waters and EU vessels fishing elsewhere “to land sharks with the fins still attached”, in a proposal that must be adopted by parliament and 27 member states in order to become law.
EU nations account for 14 percent of the world’s shark catches.
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and then HK customs seize all of this – too depressing for words……..
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Hong Kong Customs Seizes Rhino Horns, Ivory Worth Millions
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2011/2011-11-16-02.html
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HONG KONG, China, November 16, 2011 ENS – Hong Kong Customs officials Monday smashed a smuggling case and seized 33 rhino horns, 758 ivory chopsticks and 127 ivory bracelets with a total value of about US$17.4 million.
The contraband ivory and rhino horns were hidden inside a container shipped to Hong Kong from South Africa.
Acting on a risk assessment, Customs officers selected a container for inspection that was declared to contain 63 packages of “scrap plastic” from a vessel arriving from Cape Town, South Africa.
Hong Kong Customs officials display the rhino horns and elephant ivory products they seized November 14, 2011 (Photo courtesy Hong Kong Customs)
Under X-ray examination, officers found 33 rhino horns weighing 86.54 kg (191 pounds), 758 ivory chopsticks weighing 13.22 kg (29 pounds) and 127 ivory bracelets weighing 9.2 kg (20 pounds).
The smugglers had concealed the horns and ivory inside a package of plastic scrap placed at the rear of the container and covered them in layers of tinfoil, paper and plastic to avoid detection.
Officials say an investigation is underway but so far no arrests have been made.
Hong Kong Customs officials say they will continue to maintain close contact with overseas law enforcement agencies to exchange intelligence valuable in combating transnational smuggling crimes.
Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing unmanifested cargos is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
In addition, under Hong Kong’s Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance, anyone found guilty of importing endangered species for commercial purposes is liable to a maximum fine of $5 million and imprisonment for two years.
One of the 33 rhino horns seized in Hong Kong (Photo courtesy Hong Kong Customs)
“This seizure bears all the hallmarks of a sophisticated organized crime gang that has shifted its smuggling method to sea freight to avoid detection,” said Crawford Allan, North American regional director of the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.
“The number of rhino horns seized is staggering and the black market value is enormous in Asia,” said Allan. “Governments in Africa and Asia must take these crimes seriously and invest in detecting and deterring the crime syndicates before the rhino runs out of time in the wild.”
Rhino horn is in demand in Asia for its purported medicinal qualities. But rhino horn is composed of keratin, the substance that makes up hair and nails, and no scientific evidence has been found for its efficacy in treating any illness.
Rhinos have been living on Earth for 60 million years, according to the global conservation organization WWF, which says that at one time there were hundreds of rhino species, ranging across Europe and into North America.
Today, scientists recognize five species of rhinoceros – two in Africa, and three in Asia. The African species are the black rhino, Diceros bicornis, and the white rhino, Ceratotherium simum. The Asian species include the Indian rhino, also called the greater one-horned rhino, Rhinoceros unicornis; the Javan rhino, Rhinoceros sondaicus; and the Sumatran rhino, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis.
White rhino in South Africa, October 2011 (Photo by RPWinston)
Of the five species of rhinoceros, three are critically endangered. Rhinos are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which bans any international trade of rhino parts for commercial purposes.
But this listing has not prevented a steep increase in poaching since 2006. South Africa has been the focal point for poachers because it has the largest population of rhinos in the world. A record 341 rhinos have been poached in South Africa so far this year, up from 333 in 2010.
More than 90 percent of the world’s rhinos have disappeared since 1970. Today the total worldwide population of rhinos numbers less than 16,000. Few rhinos are left outside of national parks and other protected areas.
The reassessment of several rhino species released November 10 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature show that the subspecies of black rhino in western Africa, the western black rhino, Diceros bicornis longipes, has officially been declared Extinct. These rhinos were once widespread on the central-west African savannah but were wiped out by poachers.
The subspecies of the white rhino in central Africa, the northern white rhino, Ceratotherium simum cottoni, is teetering on the brink of extinction and has been listed as Possibly Extinct in the Wild.
Simon Stuart, who chairs the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said, “In the case of both the Western Black Rhino and the Northern White Rhino the situation could have had very different results if the suggested conservation measures had been implemented.”
The Javan rhino is making its last stand, as the subspecies Rhinoceros sondaicus annasmiticus is probably Extinct, following the poaching of what is thought to be the last animal in Vietnam in 2010.
International trade in elephant ivory was banned in 1990, but since then several auctions of tusks from elephants that have died naturally or were seized from poachers, have been permitted in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
Supporters of the sales say that the revenue can be used to fund elephant conservation, but critics say that any legal trade masks the black market trade and encourages poachers.
