Number of Seoul hotels serving shark fin doubles since 2021: environment group

This video was made by Korea Federation for Environmental Movements to raise awareness on human brutality behind shark finning.

By Ko Dong-hwan

The number of Seoul hotels serving food made from shark fins has more than doubled compared to last year, an environmental activist claimed Thursday.

Thirteen hotels in Seoul have been selling shark fin dishes, known for their extravagant price and unfounded nutritional claims, Kim Sol from the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) has discovered. The activist told The Korea Times that there were six hotels in the capital last year that sold shark fin dishes. The KFEM has been monitoring the figure since 2015.

Shark finning is a mark of excessive human predation upon various shark species that are becoming increasingly endangered. The barbaric practice also disrupts marine ecology.

Two hotels that are part of the Josun Hotels and Resorts group plan to stop using shark fins in recognition of the importance of saving sharks and replace them with alternative ingredients, according to Kim, while 11 others refused to respond to his calls.

The Ambassador Seoul Pullman, one of the 11 hotels, announced in 2016 that it will no longer use shark fins in kitchens, but the activist found the hotel in Jung District was still using the ingredient this year. The list of 11 hotels include Koreana Hotel, The Shilla Seoul and Lotte Hotel Seoul.

Kim disclosed the findings in commemoration of global Shark Awareness Day, which falls on July 14.

Earlier this week, KFEM activists staged a performance against the hotels that use shark fins in their kitchens by posing in front of some of the hotels as a chef holding bloody Styrofoam boxes containing a sliced artificial shark fin.

The environmental group pointed out that shark finning is unethical, destroys marine ecology, and violates the human rights of fishermen during the process of catching sharks. Shark finning is considered gruesome as fishermen cut fins off from living sharks and leave the mutilated sharks underwater to die unable to swim without their fins and thus unable to breathe. On the Long Xing 629, a Chinese shark catching vessel, three Indonesian sailors died in 2020 after working excessive hours onboard. They did not get proper medical treatment after getting sick. Their bodies were reportedly thrown into the sea.

Almost 100 million sharks are killed each year in the world's oceans, according to nonprofit organization Shark Stewards. Kim said shark numbers are now down by 71 percent compared to 50 years ago and one third of shark species are now endangered.

There is also a considerable amount of misinformation on the nutritional value of shark fin that has been claimed to be beneficial to human health. Shark Stewards said the fins are purely cartilage and have absolutely no nutritional value. They also said studies have found that shark fins contain a neurotoxin called BMAA, a risk factor for degenerative brain disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease, as well as high levels of mercury, a known reproductive and developmental toxin that can cause permanent nerve and brain damage.

“Shark fins are mostly collagen, which lacks tryptophan and cysteine. They are categorized incomplete protein, less nutritious than even eggs or milk. Shark fin consumption is a tragic result of animal abuse, ecological disruption and violation of human rights. Sales of shark fins must be stopped,” said Kim.