New Westminster has no appetite for serving shark fin soup in local restaurants.
New Westminster city council unanimously supported a motion put forward by Coun. Chuck Puchmayr to have the city develop a bylaw restricting the sale of shark fin and shark fin products in New Westminster. He said the plan is to work with Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey to see if a regional approach can be taken to ban shark fin soup.
"I am not aware of any restaurants that serve shark fin soup in New Westminster," he said. "What I suggested was to work to do a regional approach."
Puchmayr noted that several Lower Mainland municipalities have already banned shark fin soup.
"I think there is some significance in showing there is some unity," he said. "There is something to be said about that."
Puchmayr said there are some detractors who believe bans go beyond municipalities' justification, but he disagrees.
"It is something we are able to regulate," he said. "It is something starting to take hold slowly. People are starting to see the inhumane methods of harvesting 74 million sharks a year."
