Councillor Kerry Jang holds up a shark fin after using it as a prop in the Vancouver City council chamber Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, September 18, 2012. Jang showed the fin in an effort to kick off a ban on the sale of shark fins in the lower mainland. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
VANCOUVER - Vancouver city council voted unanimously Tuesday to start work on what could become a region wide ban on the sale and trade of shark fins.
Animals rights groups immediately hailed the move as historic, saying it will eliminate a huge market for the Asian delicacy and help save sharks from extinction.
Vancouver council voted to instruct its city staff to approach the neighbouring Metro Vancouver cities of Burnaby and Richmond to work on a joint plan to halt shark fin sales and trade.
"A prohibition on shark fin trade in Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby will be a monumental step forward in saving countless sharks from the cruel and ecologically devastating practice of shark finning," said Gabriel Wildgen, of Humane Society International/Canada.
Coun. Kerry Jang, who introduced the shark fin ban motion, said he brought two shark fins from his mother's closet into the council chambers to kick off the campaign.
He said he used the fins to show and explain their traditional significance to Asian culture, and stress that the proposed ban isn't an effort to demonize anyone.
He said he expects three councils to receive reports and recommendations on the proposed shark fin ban within the next eight to 12 months.
Jang noted that like his mother, a lot of people in Vancouver own shark fin.
"They got it through purely innocent means as a wedding gift or something like that," he said.
His mother got the fins almost 60 years ago, probably from her own mother.
"We're not saying to people if you possess it, you're evil and bad. . .We're just saying it's the future sales and trade. There are other alternatives."
Jang said the issue isn't one of tradition or race.
"It's an ethical issue. You just can't wipe out a species."
Jang said he'll be in Victoria next week at the annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention to support a motion that seeks a provincewide ban on the possession, sale and distribution of shark fin.
International animal rights groups estimate that up to 73 million sharks are killed each year, mostly for their fins. The groups say sharks are dumped back into the world's oceans after their fins are cut off, leaving them to die slow and painful deaths.
Coquitlam, Port Moody, North Vancouver City and Maple Ridge already support shark fin sales bans in their cities.
Six cities in Ontario have shark fin bans, including Toronto, and the states of Washington, California, Oregon, Illinois and Hawaii also ban shark fins.
Some Vancouver area business associations representing Asian restaurants say they do not support a shark fin ban.
North Vancouver City Coun. Craig Keating said UBCM delegates who represent the province's cities, towns and villages will be asked to support a provincewide shark fin ban that says "shark fin harvesting is an inhumane and wasteful practice serving a very narrow and sometimes criminal marketplace."
Keating said he was convinced the shark-fin market threatens the survival of the shark species and impacts the future of other species.
The UBCM motion also calls on the federal government to ban the import of shark fins into Canada.
© The Canadian Press, 2012
19 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/Canada/vancouver+councillor+bring+shark+fins+to+city+hall+to+urge+soup+ban/6442717032/story.html
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