Xi Jinping’s continued crack down on corruption, and all the bells and whistles that come along with it, like lavish banquets and expensive watches, have had many unintended economic consequences. As Xi’s new order has officials changing their taste for expensive exotic dishes like shark-fin soup, conservationists say a positive impact has been made in preserving the shark population.
Experts have directly attributed the Chinese reigning in spending on shark-fin dishes to the new flourishing trend of the marine animal. “We are seeing a reduction in demand from the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong is also showing a significant decline in consumption,” Angelo Villagomez, a shark specialist with the US-based conservation group Pew Charitable Trusts told Chinese news outlet Sina. Villagomez said the effect of the anti-corruption crackdown has been the leading reason why fewer sharks are killed, outweighing the efforts put forward by several Pacific island governments to maintain shark protection sanctuaries. “It’s not to do with conservation,” Villagomez said. “It’s related to a Chinese government anti-graft crackdown, which has cut back on dinners where shark fin soup was featured on the menu.”
The profound impact that the crackdown has had on shark preservation is a reminder of just how much it was consumed in China. Though China’s State Council officially announced they would stop serving shark fin at government banquets last summer, Xi’s crackdown on banquet foods and any show of extravagance has continued to diminish sales. According to data by the Ministry of Commerce, shark fin sales dropped by 70 percent since last year.
Before that, at least 100 million yuan, or $16 million, were reportedly spent on shark fin consumption in Beijing alone during official and business banquets according to Beijing-based NGO China Zero Shark Fin. According to additional data, the daily consumption during September of last year of shark fin in Beijing was about 7,500 kilograms, which is over 16,500 pounds, with prices for a single bowl of soup reaching 1,800 yuan, or a little less than $300.
Many are hoping that the downward demand trend will last, and hopefully permanently stop shark poaching. “Less demand will lead to less poaching,” Wang Xue with China Zero Shark Fin said to Sina. “We wish to see the declining demand last a long time, instead of being a short-period response to government policy.”
People like Villagomez are optimistic that shark fin soup will soon lose its appeal as tastes change among Chinese, particularly among the population of young and wealthy. “The culture is changing in Asia among younger people,” he said. “They aren’t eating shark fin soup as much.”
China's Anti-Corruption Crackdown Is Saving Sharks
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