BANGKOK (Thailand)- A group of 23 luxury hotels in the Thai capital of Bangkok have pledged to ban shark fin soup. As part of a campaign to halt the decline of shark populations they signed up to a so-called “blue list”, promoting Thai hotels that don’t serve shark fin soup.
Amongst the hotels are the Peninsula Bangkok, Banyan Tree and Shangri-La.
The Fin Free Thailand campaign is calling on other hotels to join the list and is offering free information on alternative sustainable options to those that need help phasing shark fin soup off their menus.
Fin Free Thailand discovered that not all hotels are doing what they say to the public. “We’ve found that some hotels not openly offering or promoting shark fin soup in the name of conservation, are still serving hundreds of bowls at request for business and wedding banquets”, says Jirayu Ekkul, Fin Free Thailand spokesperson and marine conservation campaign director for Love Wildlife Foundation to the Bangkok Post.
“We want them to be honest with the public and make a real commitment to marine conservation by completely banning shark fin. The Fin Free Blue List highlights hotels making a 100% commitment to protect sharks by not serving shark fin at all.”
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 90 percent of the world’s sharks have disappeared over the past hundred years due to overfishing, while humans kill about hundred million sharks each year, mostly for their fins.
read more at Bangkok Post.