Hawaii as a Model for future Shark Fin Legislation |
Written by Mary O'Malley |
Sunday, 13 June 2010 12:29 |
At a meeting held at the Long Beach Scuba Show last month, Shark Savers joined with Senator Clayton Hee, the Hawaii Senator who introduced SB 2169; Stefanie Brendl, who worked tirelessly to garner support to ensure the bill's passage; Marine Artist and conservationist, Wyland; legendary film maker and Shark Savers Board member Stan Waterman; and several other conservation groups. The purpose of the meeting was to celebrate the success of the Hawaii bill and discuss plans and ideas for pursuing similar legislation in the US and other parts of the world.
Sea Stewards, Dorsal Friends and Iemanya Oceanica have been working on local shark fin bills in San Francisco and Los Angeles County, and their efforts now have the support a strong coalition. The full list of organizations participating in the conference, includes: California Diving News, Dorsal Friends, Sea Stewards, Dorsal Friends, Iemanya Oceanica, Shark Allies, Shark Free Santa Barbara, Shark Safe Network, Shark Savers, Sea Stewards, and the Wyland Foundation. Say No to Shark Fin Soup CampaignIn support of these legislative plans, Shark Savers is in the process of launching the "Say 'No' to shark fin soup" educational campaign in North American cities with the largest shark fin consuming communities -- San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver and Toronto. Plans are also underway to spread the campaign to the key shark fin consuming cities in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile we are also working to broaden the scope of the campaign in mainland China and develop grass roots support networks to support and reinforce the message from the media campaign that is already underway in the key cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. See the update on the China billboard campaign, here and the previous update, here. Support from within Chinese communities will be vital to the success of legislative campaigns. In Hawaii, Vicky Cayetano, the former Hawaiian First Lady, was a strong and outspoken proponent of the Hawaii bill. She is Chinese, and was crucial in getting the Chinese community there to accept the legislation and one of the main reasons for its success. It is her contention that shark fin soup is not an integral part of the Chinese culture, but has become an unnecessary symbol of status.Rolling out the Say No to Shark Fin Soup campaign to all these cities is an enormous undertaking and will happen over time. There is a great deal of interest and support for the Say No to Shark Fin Soup movement. Shark Savers joined with many of these shark fin soup pioneers this past week in Hong Kong because we are producing a film on shark fin soup and those people who have stopped eating it. We interviewed many on film. During this week, we also participated in Rob Stewart's launch events for Sharkwater in Hong Kong. Comments (0)
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