wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  Straits Times Forum 6 Jul 06
Bad taste to broadcast programme on the eating of the endangered Napoleon wrasse
Letter from Law Sin Ling

Straits Times Forum 4 Jul 06
Rules set by the Palau government on
the catching of Napoleon fish highlighted in show
Reply from Mediacorp

Straits Times Forum Online 21 Jun 06
MediaCorp shouldn't air programme which shows feast on endangered species
Letter from Ang Fui Gan

I felt disturbed after watching a segment of last Sunday's Channel 8 programme 'Delicious food all over China'.

It detailed the exploits of the hosts and a local fisherman attempting to spearfish a large marine fish called 'Napoleon', said to be 'great tasting'. Video footages in the episode confirmed that the fish was indeed 'Napoleon', Cheilinus undulatus, a species that is classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union.

I turned off the television when the hosts started feasting on this magnificent creature.

Napoleon, commonly known as 'Maori' or humphead wrasse, typically takes four to six years to reach sexual maturity, reaching a length of about 50cm at this stage. Adult humphead wrasse can grow to over two metres, weighing a whopping 200kg.

Juvenile fish are frequently caught in the wild and cultivated to 'dinner-size' (before reaching sexual maturity) in captivity and sold as live fish.

This fish is also a favourite among divers as it always generates lots of excitement when encountered in the sea.

While I believe that it was not the intention of MediaCorp to encourage the feasting on an endangered species, I was disappointed at the apparent lack of research in producing this episode.

It is an irresponsible act to celebrate the dish and taste of an endangered species.

MediaCorp should take more care in the research for these productions and ensure that such things don't happen again.

Straits Times Forum 4 Jul 06
Rules set by the Palau government on the catching of Napoleon fish highlighted in show
Reply from Mediacorp

I refer to the letter, 'MediaCorp shouldn't air programme which shows feast on endangered species' (ST Online Forum, June 21).

We would like to assure Ms Ang Fui Gan that MediaCorp does not encourage feasting on endangered species and is always mindful of its programmes' contents and impact on viewers.

The infotainment programme, Delicious Food All Over China, is actually an acquired Taiwan production. It combines travel and food by introducing viewers to the local specialities, as well as delicious cuisines and dishes in China and all over the world.

For the episode mentioned by Ms Ang, the host travelled to Palau (Bo Liu) to introduce its local specialities.

In Palau, it is not illegal to fish and consume Napoleon fish. Nevertheless, there are rules set by the local government there on the catching of the Napoleon fish - these were highlighted by the producer in the show and adhered by all in the production.

They include foreigners not being allowed to catch the Napoleon fish. (The fish that was consumed in the programme was bought from the local market.)

It is also forbidden to catch any Napoleon fish smaller than 45cm in length.

We thank Ms Ang for her feedback and hope that she will continue to support MediaCorp programmes.

Ricky Wong Senior Programming Manager (Censorship)
Network Programming & Promotions
MediaCorp TV

Straits Times Forum 6 Jul 06
Bad taste to broadcast programme on the eating of the endangered Napoleon wrasse
Letter from Law Sin Ling

MediaCorp once stated that it was ''mindful of (its) role in promoting public values''. The recent reply to the issue of telecasting the feasting of an endangered and protected species belied their moral stance.

It said that the programme Delicious Food All Over China telecast on Channel 8 was an overseas production and as such implied that it had no jurisdiction over the contents.

That argument does not diminish the initial concern that the programme did not have a substantial caveat which would preclude uninformed viewers from acquiring the distorted impression that it is perfectly acceptable to patronise the fishing and the serving of the species as a delicacy anywhere in the world.

The Napoleon wrasse, or Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus Undulatus), takes five to seven years to reach reproductive maturity. This late sexual maturation makes the species susceptible to slow replacement, resulting from high fishing rate brought about by modern fishing techniques like Scuba hunting, night spearing (when the fish is asleep) and cyanide fishing.

The wrasse also spawns in aggregations of over 100 individuals, adding to the risk of mass capture. Ironically, the most preferred trade-size for this fish is plate-sized (30 to 60cm), which typically involves sexually immature juveniles below 50cm in length. When young fish are removed before they can reproduce, the population cannot replace itself and will hence fail to recover from the extensive fishing. On the demand side, adult Humpheads are increasingly uncommon, with juveniles taking the lion's share.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (ICUN) has placed the species under the Red List (vulnerable). The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) added the species on the Appendix II list to indicate its imminent threat from extinction if the trade is not energetically controlled.

The Humphead wrasse has become one of the most highly sought species of the Live Reef Food Fish Trade, which has its hub in South-east Asia. Major exporters include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and certain Pacific islands.

The majority of these countries offer lip service or do not exercise any conservation law towards the species. China, Taiwan and Singapore are the major importing countries, with Hong Kong being the biggest transhipment and consumer centre for the Humphead wrasse.

The emphasis of the programme on the eating rather than the protection of the endangered species is comparable to glorifying the grotesque nature of the shark's fin trade, the tiger skin and parts trade, and the elephant tusk trade.

The decision to broadcast the programme, with its thinly disguised theme of ecological genocide, was in bad taste. MediaCorp's claim that it ''does not encourage feasting on endangered species and is always mindful of its programmes'' contents and impact on viewers' will take some convincing.
links
Conserving Humphead Wrasse, world's largest reef fish TRAFFIC 16 Jun 06
Related articles on Singapore:wildlife trade and wild shores
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com