How It Started

A group of activists from around the globe including Judy Ki (California), Yvonne Chu (California), Rebecca Lee (California), Mike Kwan (California), Christopher Chin (California), Claudia Li (Vancouver), Clement Lee (New Jersey), Joanna Hui and other friends found out about the proposed shark fin bill in California (Assembly Bill 376) that would ban sale, possession and trade. We knew that San Francisco is home to the largest Chinese restaurant industry in North America and is one of the largest consumers of shark fin outside of Asia. We were excited about AB376 and protecting sharks from the cruel and wasteful nature of shark finning and the demand for shark fin soup. But we also found out that some Californian politicians including San Francisco Senator Leland Yee have been saying that stopping shark fin consumption is "an attack on Chinese culture." So we decided that we as shark activists need to send our voices to California and tell politicians that loving sharks has nothing to do with color or race – it has to do with ecology – and the photo mob idea was born.

Claudia in our first photo mob entry.