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Earth Day Celebrants Embrace Hong Kong’s Largest Restaurant Group, Maxim's, to “Say No To Shark Fins”

Maxim's Group Accepting a Letter of Support for "No Shark Fin"

Maxim's Group Accepting a Letter of Support for "No Shark Fin"

Wildlife has no voice, but science has illuminated the devastation to the oceanic food-chain that shark fishing has caused.

HONG KONG, HONG KONG, CHINA, April 24, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For Earth Day, over 100 citizens of Hong Kong, young and old, celebrated Hong Kong’s environmental role in the global community by helping to highlight the damages that the city’s wildlife trade continues to inflict on the world’s ecosystem. Wildlife has no voice, but science has illuminated the devastation to the oceanic food-chain that shark fishing has caused. The local Hong Kong community is now rallying support for the city’s largest restaurant holding company, the Maxim’s Group, and its commendable efforts to gradually phase out all shark fin products within six weeks, in preparation for World Ocean Day celebrations on June 8th. Science has shown that there is nothing sustainable about the shark finning industry, and the loss of an estimated 100 million sharks a year comes because its profitability is comparable to the trade in drugs, weapons, wildlife and human trafficking.

A comprehensive scientific study conducted by a consortium of scientists from Hong Kong and the United States has discovered that at least 76 species of sharks are commonly found in the trade in Hong Kong, of which almost one third are listed as under threat of extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The leadership shown by the Maxim’s Group in Hong Kong to comprehensively end sales of all shark fin dishes will send a clear message to both its suppliers, and its competing food and catering industry peers, that acting within one’s means of sustainability, and as a global citizen, is important for its brand, and as well as the investors who seek value in the organization. Limiting public and social liabilities is very much complementary to the CEO of BlackRock’s message, Mr. Larry Fink, which he sent to the world’s CEO’s before this year’s World Economic Forum, stating, that BlackRock, the world’s largest investor, with over US$6 trillion in assets under management, would not invest in companies that are not bringing social and environmental benefit to the communities they serve. This does not just mean giving back via charitable donations or company volunteer days, but instead, it means that companies must be engaged in the products and services they provide, while practicing thoughtful procurement that will not have an impact on the resources they are consuming. Jardine Strategic owns 78% of Maxim’s Group, which is a publically listed holding company on the London Stock Exchange, with secondary listings in Singapore and Bermuda.

If the shark fin phase out is completed, the Maxim’s Group will be one of the leading Asian companies in the industry on the topic of species depletion, ocean health, and will become a key implementation partner of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (SDG#14 fully recognizes the conservation of the ocean). According to WWF-Hong Kong, over 25% of all sharks and related species are threatened with extinction, with no fisheries anywhere in the world that are sustainable at any commercial level. The Hong Kong Government has recently banned shark fins at all government banquets, and many of the world’s cargo and shipping carriers have agreed not to ship shark fin as cargo, due to its overly important significance to the health of the ocean ecosystem.

#NoSharkMaxims in support of the group’s efforts to lead Hong Kong’s free trade of wildlife into a sustainable norm for the city’s global footprint on consumption.


About Ocean Recovery Alliance

A Hong Kong and U.S. registered charity, bringing together new ways of thinking, technologies, creativity and collaborations in order to help to improve our ocean environment. It has two projects with the Clinton Global Initiative focused on the reduction of plastic pollution, and is one of the only NGOs in have worked with both United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Oceans. The group also organizes the Plasticity Forum, focused on plastic sustainability and the circular economy, and the Kin Hong Seafood Festival which promotes the use of sustainable seafood.

Kai Smith
Ocean Recovery Alliance
+852-2803-0018
email us here

Bringing the Shark Back to Life, and Building Respect

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