EDITORIAL - What about the pawikan?

The Cebu City government is cracking the whip against those who capture, kill, sell and serve shark or shark meat. But with Cebu City not having any viable fishing ground from where shark can be caught leaves it with no real option other than to go after those who trade in shark meat and those who serve them as food.

There are two plausible reasons why it took too long for anyone to start cracking the whip. One is that certain delicacies such as shark's fin soup are so popular that the business they generate makes it difficult to put a stop to the practice of capturing and killing sharks.

The other reason is that, with the exception of conservationists and other nature lovers, most people find sharks difficult to really be concerned about. In other words, sharks are not way up there in the hierarchy of animals most people would go out of their way to protect.

So, to the Cebu City government -- good luck on this noteworthy initiative and hope it can sustain it long after the initiative vanishes from the news pages. Loveable or not, sharks do have a role to play in the overall order of things and need to be protected.

And while the city government is at it, perhaps it can care and be concerned similarly for a much gentler and more loveable creature -- sea turtles which are in even greater danger than sharks because of their lure as a delicacy with a reputed medicinal and health benefit.

Even more widely available as food is turtle soup. The "pawikan" from which it is made has become a permanent fixture in some eateries in Cebu City. Because the "pawikan" is pang-masa, it is much more sought after by a greater number of people and thus much more endangered.

Why Cebu City has not seen it fit to include the "pawikan" in its initiative is strange, considering that availability of the delicacy is common knowledge. Perhaps it is time some honest-to-goodness concern is also extended for the hapless sea turtles.

And as with the sharks, good luck too to the city government if it so decides to include sea turtles as an item in its initiative. Here is hoping too that it sustains the initiative long after it shall have departed the news pages.