--TEXT AND GRAPHICS: LIM YONG, G. CHANDRADAS, QUEK HONG SHIN
EVERY Chinese New Year, campaigns by conservation groups ask diners to stop eating shark's fin.
But recent figures show that Singapore's imports of the delicacy have nearly doubled since 2003. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which supplied the numbers, said nearly 2,500 tonnes were imported last year, up from 1,300 tonnes eight years ago.
The figures include dried, salted and canned fins, and refer to those meant for both domestic consumption and export.
And last week, conservation group Traffic delivered more alarming news: a report that a decade-long United Nations shark conservation scheme has failed.
Shark's fin importers here say that demand is rebounding, after a small dip due to 2009's economic crisis.
The price of shark's fin goes up 10 to 15 per cent a year, but demand is rising even quicker thanks to growing affluence in East Asia.
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.
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