Media release: Shark-fin ban urged for Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby

Media release

SHARK-FIN BAN URGED FOR VANCOUVER, RICHMOND AND BURNABY
Anthony Marr will present at Burnaby City Hall June 25, Monday, 7pm




In Ontario, the cities of Toronto, Brantford, Mississauga, Oakville, Newmarket, Pickering and London have banned shark fins outright.

In the U.S. Pacific: California, Oregon and Washington have all banned shark fins state-wide.

Here in British Columbia - Port Moody, Coquitlam and North Vancouver have publicly announced their own bans.

Conspicuously absent: Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby, which should be in the forefront of this charge.

The Vancouver Animal Defence League aims at outright shark-fin bans in all cities of British Columbia, beginning with Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby.

As a first salvo, Anthony Marr will deliver a 10-minute presentation at the Burnaby City Hall (4949 Canada Way) on June 25, Monday, at 7 pm. The Vancouver Animal Defence League will hold a respectful demonstration in front of the city hall at 6 pm. All are welcome to join.

"Other than shark-finning being exceedingly cruel, half of all shark species are endangered," says Anthony Marr. "Every year, 75-90 million sharks of various species are killed for their fins, with the rest of their still-alive bodies thrown back into the ocean. Shark-finning is by and large illegal, but almost every country with a coast line do it. And these poached products end up in the Chinatowns of cities like Vancouver and Richmond where the trade is legal, and over half of the fins could be from endangered species. The 'one-bowl-at-a-time voluntary withdrawal' approach may work, given a few decades; unfortunately, the sharks just don't have the time."




Please contact:

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.AnthonyMarr13.wordpress.com
www.ARConference.org
206-259-9679

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ACTIVISTS ASK FOR SHARK FIN BAN
By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
June 21, 2012

Like many people of Chinese heritage, Anthony Marr ate shark fin soup, a symbol of wealth and prosperity often served at wedding banquets.

Then, as a young man, he learned how shark fins are harvested.

"I was appalled," said Marr, now an animal rights activist. "I actually saw a video that showed how the sharks were just baited and hooked, brought on board ... then had the pectoral fins and dorsal fins and the tail cut off and the rest of the shark thrown back.

"Then there was also footage showing one of the sharks sinking to the bottom and just trying to gasp for breath and couldn't move, just kept wriggling the body until they die. It was horrible."

Marr, a Vancouver resident, will be speaking as a delegation to Burnaby council on Monday evening on behalf of the Vancouver Animal Defence League. The group wants to see the city ban the sale of shark fins and the serving of shark fin soup.

In recent months, Port Moody and Coquitlam have already approved such a ban, Marr said, and several cities in Ontario done so before that.

The group is now aiming to get such bans in place in the Lower Mainland cities with the largest populations of people of Chinese heritage—Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby.

Marr said that, of the more than 400 species of shark, over half are endangered. Shark finning is mostly carried out by poachers who "don't give a hoot" what species they're poaching, so half of the shark fins sold are likely from endangered species.

The largest harvesters of shark fin are in Costa Rica, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Singapore and Taiwan, he said.

Marr has been involved in campaigns to protect tigers in India and whales and dolphins off the coast of Japan. For him, the campaign to ban the trade of shark fins is personally significant.

"I also feel if it's a Chinese activist who stood up and led to the banning of it then the Chinese people would doubly redeem themselves," he said, "by number one, stopping it, number two, stop using it."

Marr and the Vancouver Animal Defence League will hold a demonstration in front of Burnaby city hall at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 25, which he is calling on members of the public to join. That will be followed by Marr's 10-minute presentation to council at 7 p.m. Monday in city hall council chambers. Info: http://bit.ly/Lg0VIu.

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
twitter.com/WandaChow

Article URL: http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/news/159890095.html