Purpose: This bill would significantly strengthen the U.S. shark finning ban by requiring fins to be naturally attached to any shark landed by any vessel within the United States and its territories. This legislation also would require that other countries implement comparable regulations or face the possibility of U.S. sanctions.
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Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Action: SUPPORT. Please contact your Representative and urge him/her to support H.R. 81. Tell your Representative that sharks play a vital role in the ocean’s food web, but they are in grave danger now.
Talking Points for Your Letter
- Shark populations around the world are declining at an alarming rate due to overfishing, habitat destruction and other human activities. Of the 350 or so species of sharks thought to exist worldwide, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists 79 as imperiled, ranging from “critically endangered” to “near threatened.” Shark populations have declined by 80% or more since the 1970s.
- More than 100 million sharks are killed annually worldwide.
- While over 100 nations fish for sharks, only a handful have enacted regulations to protect them. Small in numbers and slow to reproduce, sharks are vulnerable to exploitation. Their relatively small numbers have been reduced by fishing to feed the curio trade, by incidental catch in commercial fishing gear that targets other species, and by sport-fishing.
- The greatest threat facing sharks is a cruel and wasteful practice called finning, which involves cutting off the shark’s fins and discarding the mutilated carcass at sea. Congress passed the Shark Finning Prohibition Act in 2000, setting the stage for international conservation efforts by giving sharks a safe haven from shark-finning in U.S. waters. However, an unanticipated loophole allows U.S.-flagged vessels to skirt these important conservation measures by purchasing fins on the high seas from fishermen engaged in finning. The fins are then brought back to the U.S. and sold at a profit.
- H.R. 81 closes this loophole and also promotes international shark conservation efforts by allowing sanctions to be imposed on nations that have not implemented shark fishing regulations consistent with those placed on U.S. fishermen.
- H.R. 81 also strengthens enforcement of the U.S. shark-finning ban by requiring all sharks landed within the U.S. and its territories to have their fins naturally attached. Detaching the fins at sea presents a significant challenge to law enforcement authorities.