The San Francisco Mayoral Race and the Shark Fin Soup Divide

California's proposed ban on shark fin sales, proposed in February, has sparked heated debates within the state's large Chinese American population, a culture which traditionally elevates shark fin soup to a status-symbol delicacy.

But nowhere has that become more divisive than in San Francisco, where Chinese restaurants are heavily lobbying local and state politicians to oppose the ban, ignoring the fact that rising shark fin consumption is starting to decimate shark populations worldwide (not to mention it is a terribly cruel practice, in which shark fins are sheared from live sharks, leaving them to die).

Shark fin proponents argue the proposed ban is an affront to Chinese culture, and their voice carries political weight in a city with more than 50,000 Chinese immigrant voters.

Fortunately, some environmentally-minded members of the Chinese American community are proving this argument wrong.

Mike Kwan, a Chinese American San Francisco resident, a week ago started a petition on Change.org demanding that San Francisco's Mayoral candidates—3 out of 8 of who are Chinese American—support the shark fin ban.

Dining with others at a Chinese restaurant recently, he was served shark fin soup along with a petition being circulated by the restaurant owner to oppose the shark fin sale ban. He was horrified and managed to stop his dining companions from signing the petition. But he wanted to do more.

"I knew that if sharks were going to be protected, we would have to win the fight not at the dinner table, but through legislation," he wrote to me in an email. "I know that there's already U.S. federal legislation protecting sharks.  However, it's difficult to enforce and sharks are merely imported from countries where it's legal (such as China).  So the only effective way of really driving down the consumption of shark fin is to ban its sale and import locally.  Many states such as Hawaii, Oregon and Washington are now taking part of this movement," he said.

What's disconcerting to him is how San Francisco's mayoral race has been shaped by the issue. One candidate, Leland Yee, a current state assemblyman, has stridently opposed a shark fin ban, playing to the Chinese community by portraying himself as a defender of traditional culture.

A week ago, two of other candidates, David Chiu and Phil Ting, had yet to voice their stand. This week, the same week that more than 800 people signed Kwan's petition, that has now changed. On Sunday, The San Francisco Chronicle collected statements from both candidates stating their tentative support for the shark fin ban. "There won't be shark fin soup if there aren't sharks," Chiu told the paper.

Kwan is working to convince Yee and the remaining other candidates to stand on the right side of this issue.

"While...Leland Yee should be applauded for his history of defending ethnic communities, a ban on shark fins is not an attack on Chinese culture.  It is in our collective interest to protect the top predators in our oceans, by ending this unsustainable tradition which could result in the extinction of shark species around the world and a collapse of our ecosystem...

If more San Francisco residents realized that our potential mayor would allow shark finning, then he might reconsider, or at least be held accountable to his actions. By demonstrating the numbers of those who favor AB 376, we are turning Leland Yee's position on shark fins into a political liability, and warning other legislators (including Fiona Ma, another state assembly member) of the same," Kwan said.

Sign and share Kwan's petition to voice your support for his cause.

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Photo credit: Ruthanne Reid via Flickr