Taipei, May 3 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu said Friday she has dissuaded President Chen Shui-bian and members of his administration from eating sharks' fins to protect the endangered ocean predator.
Speaking at the launch of a shark conservation campaign, the vice Presdient said she stopped eating sharks' fins from the day that she was sworn in. Government leaders are often held up by the public as examples and they can raise the public awareness of shark conservation by not eating sharks' fins, Lu said.
Shark's fins are considered a delicacy in Asia, and conservationists said the high demand for them has driven some shark populations to the brink of extinction.
At the event, Lu and a group of shark conservationists released a batch of balloons in the shape of sharks to mark the beginning of the shark-protection crusade in Taiwan.