Cathay Pacific finally bans shark fins
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Cathay Pacific Airways has announced that it will no longer carry shark fins onboard its flights.
Hong Kong is one of the world’s largest markets for shark fin products, and as the city’s home carrier, Cathay had previously been criticised by conservationists for its shark fin policy. While other Asian airlines, including
Thai Airways and Philippine Airlines, have imposed outright bans on the carriage of shark fin products, Cathay had previously adopted a partial ban, based on whether the shark species was considered sustainable.
But it has now done a U-turn and announced a complete ban on the carriage of all shark fins onboard its flights. This includes sister carrier Dragonair’s extensive network of flights to and from mainland China.
“We understand the community’s desire to promote responsible and sustainable marine sourcing practices, and this remains important to Cathay Pacific’s overall sustainable development goals,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday (22 June 2016). “Therefore, on the issue of shark’s fin, with immediate effect we are happy to agree to ban the carriage. We will continue to review this practice, as we do all our sustainable development policies.”
Cathay noted however, that since it initially announced its “sustainable shark fin” policy, it has not approved any shark fin shipments.
“Based on our procedure for assessing whether shark products are sustainably sourced, we have rejected all 15 shipment requests for shark-related products in the last 12 months,” the airline stated.
Cathay becomes the latest in a long line of travel and tourism companies to ban shark fins. Back in 2012, another major Hong Kong-based company, Shangri-La Hotels, confirmed that it would stop serving shark fin dishes in all its restaurants worldwide, including banquets. And in the same year, Hong Kong Disneyland ended the practice of serving shark fin soup at private events.
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