Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has announced that it will no longer procure shark fin for any of its nearly 1200 hotels or 1300 restaurants around the world.
The ban on shark fin at the group will come into effect from July 2014, and the company will eliminate consumption of shark fin at all restaurants and F&B venues across its global portfolio by year end.
Starwood president and chief executive officer Frits van Paasschen said: “At Starwood, we believe economic growth and the well-being of society are inextricably tied to the health of the environment, including the health of the world’s oceans and its inhabitants. Our worldwide ban on shark fin represents an important, environmentally responsible step to aid in the collective goal of marine preservation.”
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Since first removing shark fin from its public menus in 2012, Starwood has worked with hotel owners globally to institute a complete ban on the dish, and has reduced the overall purchase of shark fin at Starwood by 79% in the past two years.
The group has also banned whale and sea turtle from all of its menus globally.
Starwood chief administrative officer and general counsel Ken Siegel commented: “We are constantly looking for ways to improve our operations to reflect our commitment to sustainable food and beverage, ocean conservation and sustainable communities, and we believe that steps like banning shark fin or other endangered species bring us closer to our goal.”
The exclusion of threatened seafood species from the company’s menus is part of Starwood’s Sustainable Food & Beverage Policy. The group’s “Eat Local, Think Global” programme is a collection of principles that guides sustainable food and beverage sourcing, production, consumption and disposal within and across Starwood properties worldwide.
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