Luxury Hotel Chain Eliminates Shark’s Fin Products From Its Asian Restaurants
The luxury Peninsula Hotels chain has decided to take shark’s fin products off their menus, despite the delicacy being a popular choice for Asian diners, especially at weddings and banquets.
The hotel group, which has properties in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Manila, Chicago, and Beverley Hills, has been offering diners an alternative to the shark’s fin soup on the menu since April. Guests who choose the alternative option receive one free night’s accommodation at the hotel. In January 2012, shark’s fin dishes will be removed entirely from the hotel restaurant’s menus.
It is estimated that approximately 3 million sharks are slaughtered every year, specifically for their fins. During the fishing process, the sharks are netted, the fins are cut off, and the sharks are thrown back in the ocean to bleed out. Environmental protection groups insist that this is leading to the endangerment and extinction of many types of sharks.
In a press statement, the Peninsula Hotel Group’s chief executive officer commented that the luxury hotel chain hopes that by removing shark fin from their menus they will be contributing to the preservation of the world’s marine ecosystem for future generations to come.
