Shark Fin City: transitional marine wildlife economies in Global Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Hong Kong has historically been the epicenter of the global shark fin trade. Despite this legacy, recent public outreach campaigns highlighting the effects of consumption on marine ecosystems have precipitated shifts in the market. Fish maw and sea cucumber have emerged as substitutes in wildlife markets, marking an understudied phenomenon from urban geographical perspectives. This article investigates the transitional nature of social value systems underpinning Hong Kong's marine wildlife market through interviews with retailers, conservation organizations, and government officials, as well as visual surveys of market displays. Hong Kong's marine wildlife market, this article contends, brings into sharp relief how transitions in social value systems that substitute one type of non-fungible wildlife commodity for others can amplify biodiversity loss and reproduce expressions of social difference in urban space. The article illuminates how social value systems embedded in urban wildlife markets are related to human health, aging, gifting, and relationship building. Furthermore, it analyzes how the possession, consumption, and display of high-value wildlife commodities in cities reflects classed and gendered forms of social difference. The article further examines the challenges of regulating the market and shaping public values and actions in the face of escalating global biodiversity loss.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiversity
• seafood
• social value systems
• urban wildlife markets
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all who participated in this research. Alaina Joby, Erica Ruan, Kelly Su, and Cheong Chun Li provided valuable research assistance. Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Princeton University Center on Contemporary China supported this work. Anonymous reviewers and editor Nathan McClintock provided valuable comments that improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

This article does not have an additional dataset.

Research ethics and consent

Informed consent was obtained by all research participants in accordance with IRB protocol.

Notes

1 An English-language translation of the Hong Kong National Security Law can be found here: https://hongkongfp.com/2020/07/01/in-full-english-translation-of-the-hong-kong-national-security-law/

2 By “reserve army,” Collard and Dempsey refer to commodities with future exchange value or in other words potentially valuable non-human natures, which in the context of wildlife can mean “fish and wild animals who are eligible to be harvested but are not yet killed” (Collard & Dempsey, 2017, p. 79). The term “officially valued,” for these authors, means an object that has come to bear value within a capitalist system. It is what capital views directly as an input, such as the labor of a lively commodity or a commodified part of a once-living animal turned into private property, such as a shark fin or fish maw processed for market exchange.

3 Import and export data for shark fins is available from Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department from 2012 onward. Import and export data on sea cucumber and fish maw, however, are only available from 2017 onward in conjunction with the introduction of a harmonized classification system for these commodities.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Princeton University Center on Contemporary China and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.