Manchester Shoppers "Hacked Off!" at City's Shark Secret

Image copyright Frogfish Photography

A nationwide environmental campaign to make Britain the first country in the world to ban shark fin soup was celebrated in Manchester this weekend with dozens of Bite-Back supporters taking the ‘Hacked Off!’ campaign message to the streets to educate and inspire consumers and restaurants to shun the contentious dish.

Every year around 36 million sharks are killed – mainly for their fins – as the title ingredient in shark fin soup. Controversially many of these sharks are still alive when they have their fins hacked off before the body is dumped overboard to die. As a result, some shark populations have fallen by 90% in the past 60 years.

Image copyright Frogfish Photography

During the weekend the ‘Hacked Off!’ protest focussed on three restaurants* in Manchester’s city centre – on Faulkner Street, Princess Street and Deansgate – plus one in Worsley, each selling shark fin soup.

Welcome support for the charity’s goal also came from handmade cosmetics company LUSH which gave up part of its Arndale Centre store, allowing Bite-Back supporters to collect over 400 customer signatures to present to Manchester’s offending restaurants.

Campaign director for Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “Considering that Manchester has the second largest concentration of restaurants selling shark fin soup outside London, this weekend has been hugely significant for the ‘Hacked Off!’ campaign. There’s no doubt that the passionate and enthusiast support we received gives us hope that we’ll be able to declare the city shark fin-free by the end of the year.”