Taipei - A US and a Taiwan conservation group are demanding a Taiwan banquet hall to stop serving shark's fin to prevent sharks' extinction, a newspaper said on Wednesday. According to the United Daily News, the US-based Humane Society International (HSI) and the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) have asked Taiwan authorities to stop the Silk Palace banquet hall in Taipei from serving shark's fin.
In their petition to the Cabinet, the Council of Agriculture and the National Palace Museum, under which the Silk Palace banquet hall is attached, HSI and EAST said the Silk Palace, which opened in June, is the venue for state banquets and draws many foreign tourists too.
However, out of the restaurant's nine set courses, eight have shark's fin dishes or soup.
"Taiwan catches and imports a total of 600 tons of shark's fin each year. Shark's fin is a luxury food. Serving shark's fin at the Silk Palace damages Taiwan's international image," EAST executive director Chu Tseng-hung said.
"Taiwan residents should boycott easting shark's fin and the government should launch a campaign to raise public awareness," he said.
Chu said harvesting shark's fin is very cruel because after cutting off shark's fin, fishermen throw sharks back into the sea to let them bleed to death. Killing sharks for shark's fin will deplete shark population and harm marine ecology.
National Palace Museum officials said that although the Silk Palace banquet hall is owned by the museum, its operation has been "out-sourced."
They said shark's fin is an important part of Chinese banquet and Cantonese cuisine, but the museum will see if it can make changes after carefully studying the petitions from HSI and EAST.
The Silk Palace banquet hall, outside the National Palace Museum on the outskirts of Taipei, took 400 million Taiwan dollars (13 million US dollars) to build. It opened to the public in late June. A 12-course banquet for 10 people costs about 20,000 Taiwan dollars (700 US dollars), while an eight- or nine-course menu for one person costs from 1,000-3,000 Taiwan dollars (30-100 US dollars).
