The Dorsal Fin

SBS World News Australia recently posted the interview above to YouTube, which features retired NBA star Yao Ming. While the interview covers many topics including Ming’s basketball career as a player and now a club owner, it also touches on environmental issues including pollution and shark conservation. Ming has been outspoken in recent years about shark conservation and has encouraged an end to the consumption of shark fin soup.

The Virgin Group’s Richard Branson and former NBA star Yao Ming have recently been featured in the media speaking out against the consumption of shark fin soup. The UK’s Telegraph shared the video above on their YouTube channel which features previously seen footage of Branson swimming with whale sharks and speaking out about threatened species. The end of the video features Ming’s latest WildAid PSA targeting shark fin soup consumption.

The L.A. Times reports that the “California shark fin ban” bill is receiving support from some high profile celebrities. Leonardo DiCaprio recently signed a letter urging the state Senate to approve the bill. Other celebrities who have shown support for the bill in writing include actress Scarlett Johansson, and NBA player Yao Ming, among others.

The bill (AB376), which would prevent the sale and distribution of shark fins in the state of California, was already approved by the California Assembly and has moved on to the state Senate. According to the L.A. Times, the bill is opposed by Asian Food Trade Association, which claims that the ban would unfairly target Asian eating habits.

The Yao Ming shark fin soup PSA produced by WildAid, reported on last week, is now online. Check out the English version of the commercial below.

WildAid has a reputation for creating some very effective PSA for animal conservation. I am really glad to see that they are using the “up to 70 million sharks” figure as opposed to the “100 million magic number.” The “up to 70 million” statistic is based on the high-end estimate from Shelley Clarke’s research on global estimates of shark catches, which estimated that between 26 million and 72 million sharks are killed commercially each year.

According to an AFP article, basketball player, Yao Ming has recently unveiled a new television commercial "aimed at wealthy Chinese" urging them to turn away from the consumption of shark fin soup. The commercial was produced by WildAid and features Ming pushing away a bowl of shark fin soup that is being offered to him in an upscale restaurant, accompanied by a narrator asking, “If you could see how shark fin is made, could you still eat it?”

Ming is quoted as saying, “We have species that need our attention and protection. They are endangered by excessive hunting by humans and deprived of habitats due to human greed.” Along with the television commercial, the basketball star’s image is also appearing on shark conservation billboard in China. Ming has been involved with WildAid in the past and made news in 2006 with his pledge to give up eating shark fin soup. Ming has also appeared in previous conservation PSAs for WildAid, including the one below which focuses on the hunting of elephants.

Hopefully, WildAid will post the new Yao Ming PSA online in the near future, as they generally do an exceptional job with their commercials (except that they tend to rely on the 100 million sharks a year “magic number”).