We were recently contacted by Matthew Payne, founder of Fin Free Manchester, which is a group working to 'Make Manchester Shark Fin Free'.
I have to admit that until I had read Matthew's email and looked round his website, that I didn't know too much about it... I'd heard of Shark Fin Soup, (although never eaten it) but I didn't realise just how cruel it was or that it was a dish that was being served in 9 Manchester restaurants.
Its major problem around the world, where over 300 million people each year enjoy eating shark fin soup.... unfortunately its popularity means that fishing fleets worldwide are slaughtering sharks faster than they can reproduce and nature can't keep up.
Did you know that most sharks are only caught and killed for their fins and in some cases the fin is cut off while the shark is still alive.. and then they are thrown back in to the sea to slowly drown or to be eaten without the opportunity to defend themselves or to escape.
The other tragedy is that the shark fin is only included in the soup for its texture and adds no nutritional value or flavour... in fact amazingly Shark Fins contain high levels of methyl-mercutry and by consuming them, humans risk being poisoned... so it really is something that Manchester and the rest of the world could do without.
Here at Quistel, we're delighted to support 'Fin Free Manchester'!
Check out there great website!