We hope that 2016 could be a big year for our Thresher Sharks. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is trying to get Thresher Sharks listed as an endangered species and we ask for your full support with this. Campaigning and signing petitions is one of many ways to achieve our goals.
Sometimes though you can make a difference by simply choosing the right place to eat but that can be harder then it sounds. Confused? Hungry? Me too.
Many of our guests arrive in Manila and fly on to Cebu. Terminal 3 is one of the main portals to Cebu and has greatly improved and now there are a few different places to eat other than asian fast food joints. Maybe you have long hauled from Europe and you see that nice noodle place – well what could be more authentic then slurping noodles and eating gyoza in Asia? However take a closer look. Shark tourism is one of the biggest draws for the Philippines with Threshers and Whale-shark imagery used to remind us daily it’s More Fun in The Philippines – yet you can still enjoy some Shark Fin dumplings in Kaishu Sushi-Noodles Express while waiting for your flight to go dive with . . . sharks??!!?
It’s More Confusing in the Philippines sometimes.
Well at least we avoided that moral pit fall. Great! But you didn’t meet friends in Manila already and eat Dim Sum in the Mandarin Tea Gardens? Â Because their shark fin dumplings might give you indigestion.
At least in Cebu where sharks bring in the big bucks we are safe right? Before heading to Malapascua (and after) many tourists go to the big mega malls of Cebu like SM and Ayala, both home to the ubiquitous Rai Rai Ken noodle chain. Yum! Sadly they also have shark fin products in their soup.
In fact even the 50 cent siomai place on the street offers Shark Fin dumplings. They will tell you it doesn’t actually contain shark fin (because then it would be way more expensive) but that is not really the point.
All this hand wringing and moral soul searching does work up an appetite. So lets concentrate on some good meat. No shark fin in meat right? Correct. Head over to Choi’s in Banilad for the best Peking Duck in town. Nice. And what better way to get your meaty taste buds tingling then a bland soup full of horrible cartilage of an endangered species like a Thresher Shark! Yes Shark Soup is on the menu.
It seems anachronistic that in 2016 we are calling for Thresher Sharks to be recognised along with so many other shark species as endangered, we are using images of sharks to boost and promote tourism to the Philippines but we are still consuming the very thing that will wipe out these animals.
So take some time to read menus well and vote with your feet. Support CITES and don’t eat anywhere here in the Philippines that promotes the consumption or use of shark products.
Please re-post and share to get this message out there!
For more information on how to love sharks contact us on info@evolution.com.ph
