Shark Truth

Past Programs
Written By Christina Tran

Shark Truth was the flagship project whose momentum, community of practice, and people eventually came together to found hua foundation.

Shark Truth was founded in 2009 by hua foundation’s co-founder Claudia Li. It was a program dedicated to promoting awareness, education, and action for shark conservation with a specific focus on the cross-cultural aspect of shark conservation. It aimed to shift the conversation happening around shark fin soup, a culturally significant soup served at weddings and special celebrations in Chinese culture.

Through unique campaigns like the Happy Hearts Love Sharks wedding contest, we saved nearly 8,000 sharks from being eaten by diverting over 80,000 bowls of shark fin from consumption.

We wanted to balance aspects of our cultural heritage with our passion for environmental sustainability. Shark Truth was unique in that it aimed to meet people where they were and, in so doing, to shift societal narratives and beliefs.

 

Fin-Free Weddings

Having shark fin soup at a Chinese wedding banquet is delicacy engrained in a cultural tradition that stems from generosity and respect to guests. Fin Free Weddings was a movement of wedding couples from around the world showing respect for their guests and our oceans by taking an important stand for sharks.

In partnership with our Hong Kong and Vancouver friends, our Happy Hearts Love Sharks Wedding Contest stopped 80,000+ bowls of shark fin soup from being served at wedding banquets, saving approximately 8,000 sharks.

Each year, up to 73 million sharks are killed primarily for their fins, threatening one-third of open ocean sharks with extinction. The shark fin trade is like the now-illegal trades in ivory or bear paw, where the demand for a single high-value animal part drives the unsustainable slaughter and waste of the entire animal.

Used mainly for a dish called shark fin soup, the shark finning industry is driving shark populations around the globe to extinction and threatening the stability of our ocean ecosystem—something we all depend on, and something we can all have a hand in conserving for future generations.

 

Shark Fin Alternatives

Part of our Shark Truth campaign included introducing people to the many kinds of soup that can easily replace shark fin.

This work included collaborating with restaurateurs, caterers, and chefs to come up with innovative soups that reflect the event hosts (and, in some cases, the couple getting married who would usually serve shark fin soup at their banquet). Some couples chose goji berries as the star ingredient in their soup instead of shark fin, a nod to the lucky colour red and a symbol of fertility. Others used ginger to symbolize heat and spice in their relationship.

 

Shark Truth held a Sans Fin Soup Contest to encourage fin-free, delicious alternatives to shark fin soup. The contest featured chefs participating in a cooking competition in which seven finalists created a stunning array of fin-free soups and appetizers using sustainable, ocean-friendly ingredients.

Recipes from our Sans Fin Soup Cooking Contest:

  • Abalone and Crab Soup & Fried Scallop Terrine 鮑魚蟹肉湯、炸干貝捲 | Recipe by Edmund Yee – P2B Bistro & Bar, Sans Fin Soup Star 無翅良品之星

  • Ginger Duck Soup & Pan Seared BC Shrimp & Crab Cake 薑鴨湯 & 炒BC蝦 & 蟹餅 | Recipe by Tom Lee – Edible Canada at the Market, People’s Choice Soup 最高人氣湯品

  • Sans Fin Soup & Seafood Sampler 無翅湯 & 海鮮拼盤 | Recipe by William Tse – Sandbar, Harry’s Favourite 哈利的最愛

  • Faux Sharks Fin Bisque & Geoduck Combination Platter 仿魚翅濃湯 & 象拔蚌拼盤 | Recipe by Todd Bright – Wild Rice

  • Shark’s Fin Melon Cannellini Beans Soup & Chilled Tofu 魚翅瓜意大利白豆湯 & 凍豆腐 | Recipe by Ben Lai 黎健斌

  • Triple Chicken Ham Stock Consommé & Drunken Chicken Rillette 三味雞肉火腿清湯 & 醉雞肉醬 | Recipe by Montgomery Lau – Westin Wall Centre

  • Golden Bridge Soup & Smoked Vegetarian Goose 喜鵲度金橋燉湯 & 素齋鵝 | Recipe by John Mok 莫同進

Christina Tran
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