May 9, 2008

Today, we sent the management of Alibaba this letter, together with over 500 of your signatures:

Jack Ma
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Alibaba Group, International Headquarters
Room 2403-05 Jubilee Centre
18 Fenwick Street
Wanchai, Hong Kong

Dear Mr. Ma,

Hundreds of people from all over the world have been coming to our web site to sign the petition to urge Alibaba to stop selling shark fin products. Attached are those signatures.

We hope you read the comments made by the signers, beginning on page 9. The signers are expressing concern and anger over shark finning and the sale of shark fins on Alibaba. They do not see Alibaba as a passive conduit for these fins, but a willing accomplice in something that must be stopped. Many people know about the association of Alibaba with Yahoo, and both images have been tarnished.

The over-harvesting of sharks is doing irreparable harm to the seas’ ecosystems. Sharks are vanishing from the oceans everywhere, primarily because of the shark fin trade. It has been scientifically proven that the shark fin market is several times larger than the entire reported international shark catch, indicating that the vast majority of shark fins are ‘off the books’ and the product of shark finning. This means that these products are often illegally harvested where shark finning is banned and that species that are officially endangered are being taken.

We are also attaching today’s article in Hong Kong’s The Standard on the very dangerous levels of mercury in shark fins. Indeed, they are poisonous to consumers. 

We are just one of several organizations circulating petitions concerning Alibaba, Yahoo, and shark fins. We have no choice but to continue drawing attention to this important issue and your role in it.
The short-term financial gains are not worth the long-term irreparable harm that the shark fin trade causes to the environment and the harm to Alibaba’s and Yahoo’s brands for supporting the dangerous, illegal, and immoral trade in shark fins.

We strongly urge you to serve as a model for other businesses and to stop the trade of shark fins on Alibaba. Shark Savers would much rather be applauding Alibaba and Yahoo for making forward thinking and environmentally smart business decisions. We look forward to your response.

With best regards,

The Directors of Shark Savers