This guest column is brought to you by Oceana Florida’s Hunter Miller, the organization’s Florida Gulf Coast campaign organizer. Visit www.oceana.org/FinBanNow to learn more and take action.
By Hunter Miller, Oceana Florida
I can only assume that most Sharkophile readers know that sharks populations worldwide are in big trouble. Fortunately, there is great news for sharks in U.S. waters is on the horizon. The United States is poised to end our participation in the destructive shark fin trade once and for all. The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act would protect sharks, establish the U.S. as a global leader in shark conservation, and cost little- to- nothing to implement. This bill would ban the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States and is uniquely bipartisan, with over 300 Senators and members of Congress signed on as co-sponsors.
Sounds fantastic, right?
Here’s three reasons why we desperately need a fin ban:
- Demand for the fin, BIG Threat- The demand for shark fins is one of the greatest threats facing shark populations around the world. Similar to how the ivory trade has decimated elephant populations, many shark species are threatened due to the demand for their fins. In fact, I was shocked to learn fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the global market every year, with some coming from species that are considered at high risk of extinction. Although the brutal and wasteful act of shark finning – slicing the fins off a shark, often still alive, and dumping the body overboard to bleed to death – is illegal in U.S. waters, fins from many countries with no finning regulations are still imported into our country every year, mainly used in shark fin soup. And although finning is illegal, it is still happening in our local Florida waters – earlier this year, federal officials seized nearly a dozen shark fins from a Key West shrimp boat.
- Cost Effective- The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (H.R. 1456) would be a cheap and simple approach to dealing with this issue . So often, great conservation proposals get squashed because they can be expensive and many lawmakers can’t handle the sticker shock to get it done. This is not the case with the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, as the Congressional Budget Office concluded that the bill would not affect direct spending and would cost little to nothing to implement. Sounds like a good deal to me.
- Sharks are worth more in the water- Not only do sharks play extremely important roles in balancing ocean ecosystems as top predators, they’re just plain cool to swim with. And more and more people are starting to agree. Shark-based tourism is a booming industry in the U.S., and in Florida specifically. According to a 2016 economic report released, shark-related dives in just Florida generated more than $221 million in revenue in 2016 and supported 3,700 jobs. If sharks disappear from our waters, so too could the jobs that depend on healthy ocean ecosystems. As long as sharks remain swimming in our waters, divers and their dollars will continue to support local economies.
2018 could be the year that the U.S. finally gets out of the shark fin trade, but a handful of politicians are standing in the way to let that happen. This is urgent — the House of Representatives has less than 10 working days left of the year, and the momentum and bipartisan support behind the bill would be lost if not passed this year when this session of Congress ends. If we don’t pass the bill this year, we would have to start from scratch next year.
Join me to urge Congress and the new Majority House Leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy, to do the right thing and bring Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act up for vote. It’s time. We need a Fin Ban Now.
Visit www.oceana.org/FinBanNow to learn more and take action. You can also follow Oceana Florida on Facebook and Twitter.