Shark Fin Folly

Shark-fin soup is popular in Hong Kong as a display of luxury and affluence, but you should know the cost involved.

View large image Not the literal cost, where a single bowl can go for as high as HK$3,120 (about US$400), but the price paid by the ecosystem.

The shark-fin trade is not only cruel, but wasteful. Caught sharks have their fins cut off while still alive and are tossed back into the ocean to die. It's no different from the abhorrent practice of cramming bears into tiny cages and tapping their gall bladders for bile.

One can't blame the sharks for taking the occasional leg off a surfer. Call it karmic retribution.

Shark-fin soup is overrated as a delicacy; its stringy, chewy texture has earned it the derisive nickname of rubber-band soup.

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