News

Editor's Note: Depletion of our sharks continues and time isn't on our side.  I am extremely sad to read this news, slaughtering sharks to celebrate weddings...

Shark's fin consumption more than doubled in Singapore last year from 2006, with demand driven by an economic boom and an increase in wedding celebrations, a report said Saturday.

Singapore consumed more than 470 tonnes in 2007, up from 182 tonnes the previous year and reversing a four-year decline, the Straits Times reported.

Strong economic growth in 2007 and a rise in the number of people getting married drove demand despite a 30-percent rise in shark's fin soup prices and appeals by environmental groups to ease consumption, it said.

Shark's fin soup is popular at Chinese wedding banquets, where it is seen as a status symbol.

"Most of the couple's parents consider this dish a premium and without it, they would lose face," Ruth Soh, communications director at the Mandarin Oriental, told the newspaper...