City Council has delayed a decision to ban the sale of shark fins and will create a task force to collect input on the issue.
People on both sides of the shark fin debate filled the seats to hear developments on a bylaw that aims to ban the sale of shark fins in restaurants and shops.
The fins are harvested using the controversial practice of finning, which involves cutting the fins off of live sharks and then tossing them back into the water.
A local group says the issue has caused a cultural divide.
The Coalition for Transparent and Accountable Governance represents 53 Chinatown-based non-profit groups and businesses.
"During the last few months we received different emails from different places and people, using very nasty wording, very violent, telling us to go to hell and Chinese people are criminals because we eat the shark fin and we've become the very bad people on earth," says Coalition spokesman Richard Poon. "This is not only a food issue, or a ban or not ban issue. It's already become a taint on the culture."
Activists say that the rest of the shark is left in the water to die and that the practice is promoting overfishing of sharks, which, in turn damages the ocean’s ecosystem.
Judy Ngyuyen is with a group that promotes Chinese culture but also supports the bylaw.
She says it's time for a cultural shift
‘We have to make some compromises here and I honestly don't think it's going to negatively impact chinese culture in the city,” said Ngyuyen.
Councillor Brian Pincott proposed a bylaw to ban the possession, sale and consumption of shark fin in Calgary and on Monday, council passed the motion.
‘We are threatening the largest ecosystem on the planet and here in little old landlocked Calgary we can make a difference,” said Pincott.
The task force will report back to council on its findings in May.
