Breaking! U.S. Senate Passes Ban On The Shark Fin Trade; Next Step Is To Pass The House Of Representatives

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (S. 1106), a bill that would ban the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States, as part of a broader legislative package known as the United States Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260). Similar legislation (H.R. 2811) has been introduced in the House of Representatives and currently has more than 130 bipartisan cosponsors.

“This is a great day for sharks and our oceans,” Whitney Webber, Campaign Director at Oceana said in a statement. “We are now one step closer to officially removing the United States from the shark fin trade.”

Webber applauded Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Shelley Moore Capito for their steadfast leadership on this important legislation, and Senators Maria Cantwell, Roger Wicker, and Brian Schatz for their support of the bill during committee markup last month.

“The House already showed its support when it passed this bill in the last Congress with a vote of 310-107, but we are now calling on them again,” stated Webber. “The demand for shark fins is decimating shark populations, and the U.S. must do its part to help protect them. The U.S. needs a fin ban now.”

A study published in Nature earlier this year found that global oceanic shark and ray populations have declined by more than 70% over the last 50 years, with overfishing as the primary cause.

The demand for shark fins incentivizes overfishing and shark finning, the cruel and wasteful practice of removing a shark’s fins at sea and throwing its body back overboard where it drowns, starves to death, or is eaten alive by other fish. Fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the market ever year. Just as rhino and elephant populations have declined due to the demand for their horns and tusks, the shark fin trade is jeopardizing the continued survival of many shark populations.

Although shark finning is illegal in U.S. waters, fins can still be bought and sold throughout much of the United States. These fins are often imported from countries that have inadequate protections in place for sharks.

According to a poll released by Oceana late last year, nearly 9 in 10 registered American voters oppose the practice of shark finning, and almost 80% support legislation to ban the sale and trade of shark fins throughout the United States.

As of today, 13 states, more than 45 airlines, 15 major corporations, and 22 shipping companies have refused to transport or trade shark fins. Nearly 700 businesses support a national fin ban.

Sharks are also good for the economy. According to an Oceana report, the value of shark-related dives in Florida in 2016 was more than 200 times the value of shark fin exports for the entire country in the same year. Shark encounters supported more than 3,700 jobs in Florida, with a total economic impact to the state of more than $377 million.

You can help all animals and our planet by choosing compassion on your plate and in your glass. #GoVeg