"It's a barbaric and completely wasteful trade,'' Darvell said in an interview with The Standard.

He caused an international outcry earlier this month when he sent a letter to Disney's US-based chief executive, Michael Eisner, strongly objecting to the theme park's decision to serve shark's fin soup for wedding banquets when it opens Hong Kong Disneyland in September.

Hong Kong Disneyland was unmoved by the outrage among green groups following Darvell's letter.

Disney spokeswoman Esther Wong said on May 27 that the park is sticking with its decision to serve shark's fin because it is ``part of the local Chinese culture.''

She said the need to respect cultures must be balanced with caring for the environment.

But Darvell, 57 - a professor at the University of Hong Kong Dental School who has devoted himself to marine conservation since he was in secondary school in England - said it is ironic that Hong Kong Disneyland will offer shark's fin on the menu while saying it cares about environmental issues.

In his letter to Eisner, Darvell said, ``I think this is a mistake of the highest order. No matter that such soup is perceived as prestigious by some consumers, from whom you simply wish to make money, shame on you.''

The letter opened a Pandora's Box as many green groups, including the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Greenpeace and US based conservation group WildAid, threatened to mount a global boycott of Disneyland if it insists on serving shark's fin soup.

What really irks Darvell, who has lived in Hong Kong for about 20 years, is Disney's assertion that shark's fin is part of Chinese culture.

Darvell, former chairman of Hong Kong Marine Conservation and a member of the South China Diving Club, described Disney's ``cultural card'' defense as ``slightly dishonest,'' given the global concern over the fate of sharks, which he says are ``beautiful and fantastic.''

``It is not cultural, but a distortion.It is the only way for [Disney to] defend putting shark's fin soup on the menu,'' he said.

He argued that shark's fin soup is not something that has been on the Chinese menu for a ``particularly long time,'' but that it is a relatively recent phenomenon. ``What is the tradition ... 10 years, 50 years or 100 years? Where do you draw the line? Playing the cultural card is a shame.''

The fin itself is almost tasteless, but in southern China it is regarded as a sign of wealth and is often served at traditional Chinese wedding banquets. It is time to change and remove ``barbaric'' attitudes of eating shark's fin, Darvell said.

He said that Hong Kong Disneyland has committed a ``simple error''- one that would be easy to rectify by withdrawing shark's fin from the menu.

It would not make any difference to the customers, as the soup is not one of Disney's main ``selling points,'' he added.

Most of the shark fins imported into Hong Kong are kept mainly in Sai Ying Pun which, according to the New York-based Worldlife Conservation Society, is the world's largest shark-fin trading center.

Ironically, it is only a five-minute walk from Darvell's office.

He admits he is unable to explain the issue to his ``neighbors'' as it involves their livelihood. But he wants to ask the traders, ``Why is there a market for it, and why is shark's fin valued so highly?''

Trade in shark fins is a profitable business. One trader told The Standard he can sell shark's fins for HK$7,000, or more, per kilogram. Between 30 and 40 species are commonly traded, with the fins imported from all over the world.

A study in 2003 by the Wildlife Conservation Society estimated Hong Kong handles 50 to 85 percent of the world's shark fin imports.

The high demand has also seen smuggling of fins, violating international law, said Darvell, who added that some countries have banned the trade.

According to China's official newspaper, the People's Daily, in 2001 three mainland seafood processing companies were found to have smuggled 2.3 tons of shark's fin, which were sold on the domestic market for huge profits between June and November.

The total amount of shark's fin smuggled was worth 4.6 million yuan (HK$4.3 million), with about 300,000 yuan in taxes being evaded.

To combat the trade, the US Shark Finning Prohibition Act went into effect on March 13, 2002.

The law bans US vessels and foreign vessels in US waters from possessing fins unless the rest of a shark's carcass is also on board.

Many Asian consumers might not be aware of the cruelty involved in removing the fin from a shark, which Darvell described as ``barbaric.'' The fins are often hacked off and the shark dumped back into the sea and left to die an excruciating death.

Environmentalists say millions of sharks are killed each year for their fins, driving many species close to extinction. Some reports say that, of about 400 shark species, 185 are threatened.

chester.yung@singtaonewscorp.com