Inflammatory remarks made on Chris Lee's Facebook wall

Yesterday, a Facebook page for the same company popped up with a copy of the sales manager’s previous status, announcing that TDS Shark fin and Mola mola products would be available at NTUC Fairprice (known to be the ‘community’s’ supermarket) outlets across Singapore by Chinese New Year – a time when many Chinese families traditionally eat Shark Fin soup.

Thern Da Seafood Pte Ltd company Facebook page with two controversial status' before it was removed.

What followed was a flurry of social media activity. Shares, likes, expressed dislikes and comments by divers and non-divers alike. Opinions were voiced, some aggressive towards the sales manager, some expressing disbelief, others pleading to NTUC to adopt logic and responsibility. It generated over 200 shares and 150 comments, and within a few hours comments were disabled, and just after that the entire page removed.

There are several shocking aspects to this status, not least the epic fail in public relations. Apparently divers had seen the original status update and had been discussing it on online forums, as well as commenting on the status. Unfortunately for our vocal sales manager – his proverbial ‘up yours’ seems to have backfired.

All publicity may have been good publicity in the days before social media, but with the speed that information can be shared nowadays, you’ve no chance to control the story! Furthermore, deleting information off the Internet is pretty much useless – print screen is your worst enemy.

Alienating a particular group of people may work for Dictators (at least for a while), but when you casually attack a group of people because of their hobby, something they love in an environment they love, expect a loud, widespread and emotional response.

Remember, the Singapore dive community were instrumental in the campaign to cease plans to capture a Whale Shark for the aquarium in Resorts World Sentosa. A campaign which was successful.

So good choice. Well done.

But enough about the small potatoes. The real fish to fry is the reason why Mola mola is even being sourced for sale.

Singapore has long been one of the hubs of the Shark Fin controversy. We have all heard the arguments for both sides. Of tradition vs. conservation. But what may have looked like a losing battle ten years ago, now looks more like unequal ground. Steps have been made. Awareness has been raised. And there is a growing proportion of (mostly) young Singaporean that are abstaining.

In my opinion, these people are heroes. To stand up against your family and Chinese New Year and say “No, not eating that” is asking for trouble. Peer pressure (or rather family pressue is enormous). To say “No, I won’t come to your [best friend’s] wedding if you serve Shark Fin is a request for being socially outcast. But it’s happening. The anti-shark fin movement has gained a lot of traction worldwide over the last couple of years. Well deserved after decades of hard work.

But Mola mola? There’s no campaign for them. Though I think the Mola Mola Movement has the power of three AND alliteration behind it. I had no idea people were even eating it until this controversy.

To be fair, up until a few years ago, I didn’t even know it existed. I saw my first and only (thus far) in the Oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. Before I flipped the switch. 

Mola Mola at the Lisbon Oceanarium

It looked like an alien. A sad, and lonely alien. I had never even heard of it before and it rekindled my wonder at the diversity of our oceans.

Mola mola is the heaviest bony fish. It can weigh up to 2,300 kilogrammes! It has often been spotted sunbathing at the surface of the ocean – giving it’s other name the Oceanic Sunfish. Its skin is made up of collagen. Sound’s great, right ladies? Except it’s the reason for its exploitation.

Mola Mola concentrated soup stock.

Mola mola soup is marketed as containing collagen – good for your skin and joints. Apparently. But even dietary supplements containing collagen have no scientifically proven benefits, let alone consuming it in a soup.

Furthermore collagen has been identified as a poor source of protein, as it doesn’t contain all the essential amino acids in the quantities required by the human body.

So it’s not good for you. In fact, it may even be bad for you. Mola mola skin is infamous for being infested by parasites, over 40 species in fact. It is also a predator that feeds at several depths of the ocean, and at different levels in the food web making it susceptible to the bioaccumulation of toxins like Mercury. This already a documented problem with sharks, dolphins, tuna and many more.

Who wouldn’t want a bowl full of toxic parasite soup?

Mola Mola Soup

The point I want to get across is not the attack of one measly, unimportant individual, but the need for a collective responsibility for sustainable seafood. It lies with you and me as consumers, with suppliers and with retailers.

We need to work towards safe seafood.

Safe for consumption.

Safe for the environment.

Safe for the species.

And honesty about the benefits a product claims to have.

This story doesn’t have silver lining. It has a platinum one. Less than 24 hours after the Facebook page was removed, NTUC released this statement:

Less than 24 hours after Thern Da's controversial company page is removed, NTUC denounces them, and follows the lead of the other major supermarket chain, Cold Storage, in taking Shark Fin off their shelves.

So screw you right back Thern Da Seafood. Not only did you shoot yourself in the foot, but you forced a major supermarket chain into making the decision you worked so hard to prevent.

Now, that’s what I call karma.

Notes: This mini controversy has kick started the anti-shark fin movement in Singapore in the run up to Chinese New year. Follow the group born from Thern Da outrage to see updates.  

More articles on this: Asian Scientist , Yahoo! SG News, Asia One

My parents are proud of my passion for conservation, but I get the feeling like it’s a bit of a ‘pat on the head‘, ‘isn’t she cute‘, ‘oh for God’s sake, shut up now‘ kind of proud. My brother sporadic interest at best. My “moral conscience” is on it’s own in my family.

And what a conscience it is! It’s bossy, unforgiving and completely judgmental. If I was to eat seafood now, I fully believe that my conscience would evacuate my traitorous body, rise up to the stratosphere and smite me.

But it wasn’t always like this. I’m from two countries that adore their seafood. In Philippines, a meal isn’t a meal without rice and fish. Or sea urchin, or sea cucumber, or seaweed, or jellyfish, or squid…you get the picture. And the UK, world renown for it’s fish and chips and kippers for breakfast. So away I ate (after the picky eater phase of my childhood).

Om nom nom indeed.

Purse Seine fishing method

At University, with all the hype about Blue Fin Tuna, purse-seine fishing, not so dolphin friendly, I decided to stop eating Tuna (all species).  Rebellious I know. I’d like to tell you that it was easy, but it wasn’t. I love tuna. I love it with mayonnaise, I love it in a pasta salad, I love it in a bake. But this was something I could actually do. I was slowly realizing my inherent power as a consumer. I was not adding to the demand that was decimating a species. If I wasn’t stressed out with Uni work, I would have slept better at night.

And that was it for a while. I was doing my thing, and I was happy about it. Then I started a job in environmental education, where amongst other things, we taught about conservation issues.

Me & my students on a biology and conservation fieldtrip

Well f*ck me, I realized I knew nothing. Talk about being “out in the real world”. There were so many more issues that I had been completely blind to. And ignorance had been bliss. How was I supposed to teach these kids, and encourage them to try and make a difference in this world whilst I was still contributing to many of these problems?

And I’m not just talking about food. There was a plethora of other issues that most of us are blinkered to. Shell collection, fish feeding, elephant riding, exotic pet trade, shark fin soup…the list goes on. I will be blogging about several of these issues in times to come, but after learning and then teaching about these issues, and being surrounded by colleagues that were going through the same process, I realized (and let’s quote Cat Stevens here) “it’s now time to make a change“.

Slowly I started avoiding foods that typically had destructive origins, as a tourist I would avoid the tacky “take a picture with this endangered species” situations that are prevalent over SE Asia. As a consumer, I found myself drawn to eco-friendly products.

The Conservation switch was flipped. I found myself “eco-aware”. And you can’t turn that off. It has taken over my life. I’m always asking questions, where did that come from? How was it harvested? What’s it’s carbon footprint? What are the knock-on effects of this activity?

YOU CAN’T TURN IT OFF! It makes you that annoying “morally superior” friend/ family member, the downer, the party pooper; the one who finds fault with letting go of balloons. Even more so if you are scientist and you have the facts to back up your claims.

Tourism with a conscience

It’s not that those of us whose switch has flipped want to be that asshole friend. You need to know that we’re trying really hard, all the time, not to be. I do my best not to judge anyone else’s actions and decisions, and I will not judge anyone who wasn’t informed about an issue in the first place. However, once we have made an informed decision, we feel that it’s our duty to spread the word. And finding that balance between relaying information and not offending someone is no easy task.

So for those of us Conservationists that don’t have a PR department to figure out the best way to say what we want to say, bear with us while we figure it out.

So sit back, enjoy the bubbles and soak it all in!