社会话题探讨:关于食用鱼翅(2)

Excuse me waiter, there's a shark in my soup

The richer societies get, the more finicky they tend to become. Many (including myself) waste half the animal they have had killed on their behalf, refusing to consume its organs, intestines, brain and so on. These parts are often eaten, and sometimes prized, in non-western societies, particularly in Asia. In their willingness to consume almost all the animal, both China and Japan score far better than most western countries.

Surely, then, one can't object to eating shark fin? Yet one can and one should. The reasons are to do with conservation and our broader ecosystem. Some species of shark have been depleted by 70 per cent and a few, such as smooth hammerhead, bull sharks and tiger sharks, by 90 per cent or more. Sharks are the ocean's top predators. Their absence causes havoc. Off the east coast of America, sharks used to eat bottom-feeding rays. With shark numbers massively depleted, the rays have had a field day devouring scallops, clams and oysters, rapidly reducing stocks.

Once shark fins are dried and in jars, it is all but impossible to tell what kind of shark they came from or whether they were finned. At one store in the Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong, a city where half the world's shark fin is traded, a salesman admits he has no idea whether the fins come from endangered species. His shop does not sell shark meat, and he says it could be true that the carcase is simply tossed into the sea. As well as the cruelty, there is also the incredible waste. The average shark stretches to about 10 bowls of soup.

Certainly, shark fin is traditional. As one writer points out, to ask people to stop eating it is the equivalent of suggesting Americans give up turkey for Thanksgiving. There is doubtless a case for banning other types of food, such as some types of caviar and some species of whale. But cultures are not immutable. Traditions change, especially when they are unsustainable.

Fortunately, many of the most prominent campaigners against shark fin are Chinese, with Yao Ming, the recently retired basketball sensation, among the most passionate. In Hong Kong, where shark fin used to be de rigueur at Cantonese banquets, many young people refuse to eat it. Besides, sharks have less cachet now they are siphoned from the oceans on an industrial scale.

In Canada, more than a few ethnic Chinese couples have made a show of not serving shark fin at their wedding. Judy Lao recently told the Vancouver Province why she didn't have it at her reception. "We don't really care, our friends don't care, and shark fin has no nutritional value anyway," she said. "So why should we serve it?" Why indeed.

社会越是富有，往往就会变得越挑剔。许多人（包括我在内）会浪费掉因为他们而被杀死的动物的一半，我们拒绝食用它们的器官、肠子和脑子等等部位。但在西方之外的社会、尤其是亚洲，人们通常是吃这些的，而且有时还会将其视若珍品。就吃下动物所有部位的意愿而言，中国和日本要远远排在大多数西方国家的前面。

这么说来，想必我们不能反对吃鱼翅了？不，我们可以反对，而且也应当反对。因为这关系到环境保护以及更广泛生态系统的保护。一些种类的鲨鱼数量已减少了70%，少数几个种类的数量减少了90%，例如平双髻鲨、牛鲨和 虎鲨。鲨鱼是位于海洋食物链最顶端的捕食者。若没有它们，生态系统会发生混乱。在美国东海岸附近，鲨鱼通 常以在水底觅食的魟鱼为食。由于鲨鱼数量急剧减少，魟鱼就会趁机吃掉很多扇贝、蛤蜊和牡蛎，使这些物种的 数量迅速减少。

鲨鱼的鳍一旦被晒干并放入罐里，便几乎无可判断它们来自哪种鲨鱼，或者是否是被割下来的。在鱼翅交易量占 全球一半的香港，上环区一家商店的一位销售人员坦承，他不清楚店里的鱼翅是否来自濒危鲨鱼。他的店里不卖 鲨鱼肉，并且他表示，鲨鱼的尸体被直接抛回海里可能是真事。岂止是残忍，这也是一种巨大的浪费。平均每条鲨鱼只能加工出大约10碗鱼翅汤。

不错，鱼翅是一种传统食物。正如一位作家所指出的那样，要求人们不吃鱼翅就好比让美国人过感恩节时不要吃火鸡。我们无疑有理由禁止食用其它食物，比如某类鱼子酱和某些种类的鲸。但文化也不是一成不变的。传统会发生变化，尤其是当它们难以为继的时候。

值得庆幸的是，在反对吃鱼翅的最著名活动人士之中，许多都是中国人，比如近期退役的篮球明星姚明，就是行动最积极的人士之一。在香港，鱼翅曾是粤宴上的必备菜肴，但如今许多青年人拒绝食用鱼翅。此外，在捕杀鲨鱼实现工业化规模的今天，鱼翅的身价已大不如前。

在加拿大，许多对华裔夫妇已做出表率，在婚宴上不供应鱼翅。Judy Lao最近向《温哥华省报(Vancouver
Province)解释了，为什么她的婚宴没有上鱼翅。“我们并不介意这些，我们的朋友也不介意，再说鱼翅根本也没有什么营养价值，”她表示。“所以，我们为什么要上鱼翅呢？”确实，这有什么必要呢？