Open Letter to Chinese Restaurants
Dear Chinese restaurants,
Shark fin soup. A traditional Chinese dish which is also famous worldwide. The simplicity of combining a shark’s fin, chicken and ham broth.
I must admit, I truly admire how you find such bizarre ingredients which up making spectacular dishes. But the fact that you are killing an innocent species so cruelly, just to satisfy the taste buds of human beings? Sounds unfair.
However, the purpose of this letter is not to applaud or praise you on the quality of your food, but to convince you why you should stop selling shark fin soup and how sharks are actually a good species.
A keystone species; a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend on, such that if they were removed, the ecosystem would change drastically. Sharks are a keystone species of healthy and diverse oceans. They feed on animals that are weak, sick and remain below them on the food chain. Therefore, sharks help maintain and control the balance of the marine ecosystems.
For example, from 1970–2005, the population of sharks such as the scalloped hammer and the tiger had decreased excessively from direct fishing pressure. From that, species like rays and skates (consumed by sharks) increased in population and overpopulated. The main diet of rays and skates were scallops, which meant that they put an end to scallop fishery. This is called ‘upsetting the balance’ or a ‘trophic cascade’. Other than that, the diet of a shark can vary, therefore, it allows them to switch prey whenever a population of species runs low. Hence, the sharks help balance the ecosystem and makes sure that no species get overpopulated. In other words, if you kill ONE shark, you’re killing hundreds of other marine species.
Using a shark’s fin in a bowl of soup as the ‘main attraction of your theme park’ doesn’t quite make sense. Here’s the reason, It’s tasteless! It’s purely cartilage! You’re only using it for the firm jelly texture which can easily be made in the kitchen. Just substitute it with gelatin, pigs blood, vegetables, jellyfish… there are so many other options. So why not do that? In fact, shark fin soup is very unhealthy. The fin has a very high level of mercury and other dangerous toxins which are found in fish. The United States Environmental Protection Agency also advises women and young children to avoid ingesting it. Symptoms of mercury poisoning can cause harm to the brain, heart, kidneys, and immune system. Again, if you kill ONE shark, you don’t only kill hundreds of other species, but you’re also slowly killing yourself.
There are many things you could say about sharks. Like how they can bite off a huge chunk of your skin and swim away like nothing happened. However, what most people don’t know, is that sharks normally don’t attack humans. It’s easy for them to mistake humans as their natural prey, such as turtles, seals, and other fish. The most common shark attacks are provoked ones. These attacks occur when humans ‘disturb them.’ For example, some divers try to grab and pull a shark’s fin, forgetting about the consequences they’ll face.
At the end of the day, who really are the killers?
To sum everything up, sharks are the heart of the oceans. Sharks are a good species as they keep everything in balance. There are many times when people mistakenly think that sharks are bad and that they intend to kill humans. But everyone knows that that’s not true.
After reading my letter I hope you agree to stop selling shark fin soup, along with not to harm or kill any species of sharks.
Respectfully,
A Marine Biologist
