- Following the news that China Tang will not be serving shark fin soup, we have stop collecting names to send to the restaurant. You can read our latest news here.
China Tang, the restaurant located in The Dorchester hotel run by Sir David Tang, has come under fire for allegedly selling shark fin soup.
Conservationist and film maker Lord Antony Rufus-Issacs says that he was offered the soup, which was not on the menu, when he dined at the restaurant last week. He has written to Sir David asking him to stop serving shark fin soup, after seeing The End of the Line.
In his letter, he said: “I have seen the film [The] End on the Line and was deeply effected [sic] by it as were so many people. I am writing to you as a result of seeing the film.”
China Tang has subsequently claimed that this was a ‘mistake’ by staff, and that they took shark fin soup off the menu months ago due to ethical concerns.
Shark fin soup is contentious as the fins are often ‘harvested’ by cutting the fins off live sharks that are then thrown back into the sea to bleed to death.
Shark fin soup is traditionally eaten on special occasions, such as weddings, in Chinese society. It is regarded as a status symbol due to the cost of the fins and has to be flavoured with stock as the fins themselves have little or no taste.
The End of the Line campaign abhors the practice of shark-finning and calls on China Tang to not serve the soup. We have compiled an email to send to China Tang, expressing your concern and asking them not to sell it.
You can view our protest over shark fin soup here.
Is it really worth killing all those sharks for a lousy sharkfin soup?
please stop being so money-led and grow a bone of conscience…..surely green PR is better in the long run anyway?!
Amazing of you to get China Tang to stop serving shark fin soup.
We’re fighting a similar battle over here trying to get high profile restaurants to do the same.Maybe we should get Lord Rufus_Isaacs to send them a letter!
What will be on the menu when the sharkfins are no longer available because the species is extinct? What will it take to make people realize the significance of this ridiculously devastating practice?
Please stop this destructive and unsustainabble killing of sharks for their fins!
The legacy you are leaving behind is an Ocean without sharks and an ocean without sharks is a dead ocean! Which means we loose 80% of our oxygen!
Which means the legacy you are leaving behind for your offspring and their offspring is no legacy at all! As civilisation as you/we know it will cease to exist!
Please stop selling shark products!
Jeff Hansen, Perth, Australia
If you have any intelligence left which isn’t clouded by greed and profit.spare a thought for the shark when it has it’s fins cut off, would you like your hands and feet cut off so someone can eat you? I doubt it.
As the number one apex predator of the land isn’t it about time you took the responsibility to help maintain,preserve and sustain and help to rebuild the mess the gangster led shark finning industry have done.
You can help by removing one dish off your menu,not much to ask really.
It would also say that you do not associate with this illegal method of stripping the sea.
I suggest taking time out to view the end of the line,it will give you a different perspective on sharks and as a responsible restauranteur a good reason to review your policies.