After time ran out for a proposed ban on the trade of shark fins during the last session of Congress, Reps. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (I-MP) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) re-introduced the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act for this year’s 116th congressional session.
Like it’s predecessor, the proposed legislation would ban the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States.The previous bill cleared congressional committee by Sablan and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) with widespread, bi-partisan support of 262 cosponsors in the House but was not brought forth for a vote before the session expired.
The global shark fin trade is one of the largest contributors to the decline of shark populations around the world, with the fins from as many as 73 million sharks ending up in the market every year, according to the conservation group, Oceana.
“Banning the U.S. shark fin trade has overwhelming support from the conservation, business and coastal recreation industries, and is a critical step for shark conservation. This legislation would improve enforcement of state fin bans and reinforce the status of the United States as a leader in shark conservation,” Oceana campaign director Whitney Webber said via press release. “Last year, we were just inches from the finish line in passing this bill. It’s time to make a U.S. fin ban a reality. We commend Representatives Sablan and McCaul for their bipartisan leadership in re-introducing this legislation that will set a new standard for shark conservation.”
The global shark fin trade has led to the brutal practice of shark finning, where the fins are removed and the bodies thrown back into the ocean, only to drown, starve or die a slow death. Some shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent in recent decades due to overfishing, and one-third of identified shark species in the Hong Kong fin trade, the historic center of the global trade, are threatened with extinction.
“The strong, bipartisan support for this legislation sends a clear message that we have to pay more attention to protecting the Earth’s oceans and the life within those oceans,” Sablan said. “Banning the sale of shark fins to help end this wasteful and cruel practice is important, but just a small step on the way to giving the oceans the full respect they must have in federal law. Ultimately, all life on Earth depends on the health of the oceans.”
https://www.sharkophile.com/2018/12/08/oceanas-hunter-miller-the-time-is-now-to-ban-shark-fins/