Sharks Circle China's Alibaba.com

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"We respect our members' rights to make their own decisions on issues of cultural tradition," Alibaba spokeswoman Christina Splinder said in an e-mail to BusinessWeek. The company has a policy prohibiting Web site users from listing products taken from animals protected by local or international law such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), she says. (Sharks are not on the CITES protected list.)

"We had an open dialogue with activists," she adds. "We took their suggestions and opinions on board and reviewed our policies…. We decided that our current policy is the appropriate policy at this time." Trade in officially recognized endangered species "is strictly forbidden on Alibaba," says Splinder. "Our editing team will promptly remove listings if we become aware that listings are not CITES compliant."

Activists contend that Alibaba should use a higher standard than the CITES list and argue that some of the shark fin merchants using the company's site are violating laws prohibiting overfishing of sharks. "A vast proportion of this trade is actually done illegally," says Brian Darvell, a professor of dental material science at the University of Hong Kong who was active in a grassroots movement in 2005 that successfully pressured Disney (DIS) to drop shark fin soup from the menu at Hong Kong Disneyland's hotels.

Quality Also an Issue

While the Hong Kong government says local buyers and sellers only deal in legitimately obtained fins, Darvell says that argument "is simply inconceivable. The volume is so great. We know that fishing occurs in areas that are supposed to be protected."

Alibaba's critics have an unlikely ally in Hong Kong's top shark fin traders group. Setting aside issues of right and wrong, Charlie Lim, general secretary of the Shark Fin and Marine Products Assn. in the city, says that cyberspace is a risky venue for shark fin merchants anyway. "To buy shark's fin, you really need to look at the fins and check the quality," he says. "I presume only small or new companies would turn to the Internet. There might be a greater chance to be duped if everything is done online."

The activist community, having made no progress with Alibaba, pledges to continue lobbying. But they're aware that they face a tough fight getting people to care about saving creatures that are hardly beloved by most people. "Sharks aren't cuddly and cute," says Duncan Carson, a Madrid-based activist behind the Web site stopsharkfinning.net. "So people aren't inclined to take notice."

With Xiang Ji in Hong Kong and Sonal Rupani in New York