A bylaw that would ban the sale of shark fin in Calgary has passed first reading at city hall.

Councillor Brian Pincott brought the motion to council back in July and presented an 11,000 signature strong petition calling for the ban to his collegues on Monday.

Shark fin use has become highly controversial because of the way the fins are harvested.

Experts say the sharks are being overfished to meet demand for their fins and that the rest of the shark is typically wasted.

The products are used mostly by the chinese community in soups and other dishes.

Members of Shark Fin Free Calgary were in chambers to voice their concerns.

"We're here to applaud aldermen for making a leading environmental move in Western Canada." said Ingrid Kuenzel from  Shark Fin Free Calgary. "We need sharks. Healthy oceans need sharks. It is for all cultures, all races, all ages, and it is for the future we are leaving for our children. This is wrong and the only way to stop it is to stop demand for the product because no one can police those oceans. Stop the demand and the supply will stop."

The motion was delayed to give restaurants and merchants a few months to sell off their current stock.

Some members of Calgary's Chinese community were in the gallery to learn more about the ban.

"The news leaked out there and then they passed this bylaw there, the motion back in July, and caught everyone by surprise. So of course there's a feeling of not being informed, not being engaged for such a important issue here right?" said Ken Lee. "We are not here to say yes or no as far as context but we live in a democratic system right? There's different ways to communicate, we all know how to communicate, but that was lacking."

Lee says the community was concerned about not being heard and that they wanted to be part of the solution.

The Mayor says that Calgary is not the first city to take issue with the practice and won't be the last.

"I have done a lot of research and while I am certainly sympathetic to both cultural tradition and the concerns of the community, I think that in this particular case, the broader ethical, moral, environmental issues out weigh those," said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Similar bans exist all over the world including in Canada where Toronto enacted a similar bylaw just last year.