Fairmont Hotels & Resorts on Wednesday announced that it has removed shark fin from all of its menus in Asia, as part of the company’s sustainable seafood initiative, launched in 2009.
Fairmont Singapore, Fairmont Beijing, Fairmont Yangcheng Lake and Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai will no longer menu shark fin at its restaurants, in-room dining and banquet service. Instead of shark fin, the company is offering items similar in texture and consistency, including mud crab soup; it’s also highlighting oysters and green-lipped mussels.
Fairmont said the move has received “very positive” feedback from customers.
“We’re proud to be at the forefront of the movement to stop serving shark fin. It’s a logical step for Fairmont, given our decades long work in greening our hotels and our focus on providing guests with meals that are not only good for them, but also good for the planet,” said Jean Michel Offe, Fairmont’s VP of food and beverage. “Our hotels are constantly seeking ways to be more ethical in their menu choices and have removed other at risk species under the guidance of reputable seafood watch organizations. Simply put, it’s the right thing to do.”
Fairmont Beijing was Fairmont’s first hotel in China to remove shark fin from the menu.
Fairmont isn’t alone. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Peninsula Hotels and Singapore supermarket chain Cold Storage are among the Asia-Pacific businesses now saying “no” to shark fin.
Traditionally served in soups, shark fin is a staple of high-class banquets and weddings throughout much of the Asia-Pacific region, especially in China. Though pricier than many seafood items, it’s becoming more affordable as the middle class there becomes more affluent.
However, shark fin is becoming an increasingly controversial product. According to the environmental camp, millions of sharks are harvested each year just for their fins, and they’re dumped overboard and left to die.
