KAL joins other airlines rejecting shark fin cargo

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KAL joins other airlines rejecting shark fin cargo

Last week, Korean Air Lines said it had stopped carrying the delicacy used in soups since March. The Seoul-based company joined Cathay Pacific Airways and Air New Zealand in refusing to transport the commodity.

The airlines’ ban may aid steps by environmental lobbies to protect sharks, whose fins can cost as much as $800 per kilogram ($364 per pound). Hong Kong is the transit point for about half of the global shark fin trade, which largely goes to the Chinese market, said Alex Hofford, executive director at MyOcean, a marine conservation group.

“The airlines know it’s good to be seen as doing the right thing as passengers become more environmentally aware,” Hofford said. “Economically speaking, it doesn’t affect them one bit as it’s so tiny compared to all the other things they carry.”

About 10 percent of global shark-fin trade is freighted by air with the rest moving by ship, Hofford said. Hong Kong imports shark fins from Africa, Europe, the south Pacific, Indonesia, Japan and the Middle East, he said. Bloomberg
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