Calling all eco-conscious couples – how would you like a honeymoon in a certified eco-resort in stunning Fiji?
By making your wedding shark-free, you can show respect to both your guests and our oceans as well as earning the opportunity to win a fabulous prize!
Enter the Happy Hearts Love Sharks – Hong Kong wedding contest now.…

Courtesy of our fabulous grand prize sponsors, Air Pacific and Matava, we are thrilled to offer a grand prize which includes

Return international flights, for 2 people, from Hong Kong to Fiji’s Nadi airport*
Return domestic flight transfers, for 2 people, from Nadi to Kadavu island*
Return boat transfers from Kadavu airport to Matava, Fiji’s premier eco-adventure resort*
6 night’s accommodation in an oceanview bure at Matava
8 dives (4 x 2-tank morning dives) for two with Mad Fish Dive Centre, Matava’s on site PADI 5 Star Dive Centre and unlimited all day shore diving at The Critter Junction (NB. For non-divers, scuba diving package can be exchanged for other resort activities)
Traditional Lovo Feast and Kava ceremony
All meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, unlimited tea/coffee)
All taxes for food/accommodation at Matava*

*Winners must pay taxes and surcharges for flights. Availability for the grand prize flights and accommodation package will be subject to blackout dates to be confirmed in the winner’s Grand Diamond Prize confirmation letter.

Enter contest now!

The Happy Hearts Love Sharks Wedding Contest

The Happy Hearts Love Sharks wedding contest was originally created in 2009 by Canadian shark conservation group Shark Truth.

Originally run purely as a Facebook competition to reward couples who had already held a shark fin free wedding, Shark Truth had 16 couples making their pledge public in the first year and 27 couples in the second – with a combined total of 10,000 bowls of shark fin soup prevented from being served.

In 2011, Shark Truth gave HK Shark Foundation exclusive rights to launch a Hong Kong version of the contest.

Along with partners EcoVision Asia, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Humane Society International, HKSF developed a new vision for the contest, which included extending its reach beyond purely the Facebook community, to include interested couples in China, and also targetting couples in the planning stages of their weddings so that we might influence those who had not previously considered having a shark-free wedding.

When our vision attracted the support of the sophisticated high society magazine Hong Kong Tatler and of the popular bridal publication Darizi, as well as a sea of awesome prize sponsorships, we knew we had something special to offer. And so the Hong Kong edition of Happy Hearts Love Sharks was born…

Pledge to make your wedding shark-free and enter the contest now!

The Cause

By making your wedding shark-free, you can help keep our oceans in harmony.

Humans need healthy oceans

Our oceans are a precious natural resource that should be conserved for future generations. They are a valuable source of food and livelihoods and play an important role in regulating our climate (about half of the oxygen we breathe every day is generated through the photosynthesis of tiny oceanic organisms called marine phytoplanktons!).

Healthy oceans need healthy shark populations

Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the delicate balance of our marine ecosystems. As apex predators, sharks sit at the top of the marine food chain and help regulate the abundance and diversity of the marine life beneath them. Declining shark populations have a direct impact on the health of our oceans.

Sharks need people to say NO to shark fin!

Unsustainable demand for the Chinese delicacy Shark Fin Soup is causing a crisis in our oceans. The fins of up to 73 million sharks are thought to be traded each year – that’s 200,000 sharks per day! Along with habitat destruction, such massive overfishing has caused the dramatic decline of many shark populations, with some dwindling by up to 90%. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), around one third of all shark species are now threatened or near threatened with extinction. Extinction is forever so, please, make your wedding shark-free now.

Enter the competition now.

For more information, please visit the FAQs on the HK Shark Foundation’s website.

Why say NO to shark fin

Shark-free weddings are sophisticated and environmentally conscious and, by serving a suitable alternative to shark fin soup, you can both respect your guests and our oceans.

Shark Finning is cruel, wasteful and unsustainable

When sharks are ‘finned’, the shark is pulled onto the boat, its fins are sliced off and its body is thrown back into the ocean. Although incredibly wasteful, the fishermen do this because the fins are the most valuable part of the shark and, by only storing the fins, the fishermen can catch many more sharks than if they had to store the bodies on board too – this is partly why the practice of shark-finning is so environmentally unsustainable.

Many people also condemn shark-finning because it is cruel. The sharks are usually still alive when thrown back overboard. They are unable to breathe because, without their fins, they cannot swim and pass water over their gills so, instead, they sink to the sea bed where they slowly suffocate.

Shark fin soup: All symbol, no substance.

Shark fins are prized because of the high demand for the Chinese delicacy known as Shark Fin Soup.

Traditionally, only emperors and the wealthy elite ate shark fin soup. Today, however, shark fin is a widely affordable luxury, thanks to the rising mass affluence in China and the global growth of industrialized fishing methods. Now, shark fin soup is a standard feature of Chinese banqueting menus and serving it is seen as a symbol of wealth and of respect for guests.

Interestingly, the shark fins have no taste and no nutritional or medicinal value on their own. All of the soup’s taste and goodness comes from the stock, which is normally made from chicken. The fins are added partly to give texture but mainly as a status symbol – and status is no reason to fish a species to extinction.

Enter the competition now and pledge to have your wedding shark-free.

For more information, please visit the FAQs on the HK Shark Foundation’s website.

Enter contest now!

Calling all sophisticated bridal couples! By making your wedding shark-free, you can show respect to both your guests and our oceans as well as earning the opportunity to win a fabulous prize! Enter the Happy Hearts Love Sharks – Hong Kong wedding contest now.…