Save the sharks

(Animal Wellness)-The Quincy Rockers, world famous band, are currently invovled in an Anti-Shark's Fin soup campaign. The sudden increase in "green-mindedness" of the general public after the QuincyRocker's Live Earth! performance have confirmed the band's world-wide influence, and their members feel obliged to put their fame to further good use. In this venture, the QRs signed an agreement with Animal Concerns and Research Education(ACRES), Singapore. Working hand in hand, theQRs and ACRES hope to put a stop to the cold blooded culling of sharks. This recent collaboration was initiated by Tan Xin Ru, the QR's guitarist, who is also an animal rights activist.


Shark's fin soup is regarded as a delicacy in many Asian cultures, and is often served in many Chinese Restaurants at exhorbitantly high prices. However, this does not seem to quell the popularity of shark's fin soup. It is curious why people find the dish delicious. The soup is thick and bland. In fact, it tastes like "...fingernails and hair!" to Singapore born Michael Aw, a marine conservationalist based in Sydney. Furthermore, it has no nutritional values to speak of. The production of this delicacy is in fact, extremely painful to the sharks. The fins are cruelly chopped of the sharks, which are then thrown back into the sea. The lost of the fin cripples the shark, leaving it unable to swim and hunt. The shark is then slowly starved to death.

de-finning of a shark

This cruel act is NOT justifyable. Sharks are facing extinction in this day, and play an important role in the marine food cycle. Also, contrary to popular belief, sharks are not aggressive, and claim less than 12 victims every year.

With this in mind, the QRs will be launching a campaign over the next few months, and will also be boycotting shark's fin soup. It is the band's hopes that they will be able to reduce the rate of consumption of the dish by half one month into the project. ACRES executive director, who wishes to remain unidentified, says that the band is being too humble. "They have such amazing influence on people, halving the consumption of the dish is certainly too humble an estimation. In fact, they might even be able to change the long established custom of eating shark's fin soup and completely phase out the production of shark's fin soup."

In phase 1 of this campaign, the QuincyRockers will be viewing sharks in nature reserves, to learn more about them. The photos from the visits will be sold at US$50 each. All proceeds be used to fund the project. The band has already taken time off their extremely tight schedule to visit Shark Sanctuary, a reserve located in Brisbane, Australia. "Even the sharks seemed happy to see them," commented Anthony Goodwill, manager of the reserve. Apparently, the music of the band has transcended the human boundaries, and even reaches into the animal kingdom.