Shark Finning Ban in CA

[ClawOfBastet]

I have never felt so strong a need to spread word about things until this. So I don't know how to really.

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advoc ... on&id=2057

This site explains it alot better than I could. There's trying to be a ban on Shark Finning, which is an extremely environmentally bad practice in which is driving sharks to extinction, including Whale Sharks. The populations being down to 90%. It's just like whaling, tiger/leopard pelting, ivory trade and such and such, only that it isn't being regulated, nor watched at all.

Basically noone is really trying to help because they see the sharks as these huge monsters, rather than as a keystone predator in the ecosystem. Basically just have a bad rep like Pit Bulls.

*sigh* Like I said. I don't really know how to say it, but it's just something I need to put out there. I'm personally typing up a letter to the Assembly person as well as filling out petitions, and I just thought I'd reach out and inform about the bill, and about things that I was even unaware of until now.

Thanks in advance.

[Isabella]

Sharks are not only key predators but once you learn about them they are hardly monsters. They've always been one of my favorite aquatic animals. Gorgeous and powerful and very much misunderstood.

[Fox]

That's such a waste! Why not eat the entire shark at that point!? And besides the teeth are a much cooler trophy.

[Calhoun]

The reason they don't eat the entire shark, or keep it for that matter, is a simple dollars per pound issue. The amount of money they are getting per fin is 50 time that of the rest of the shark meat. It would be like taking all the rock out of a diamond mine and trying to sell it, when all you really want are the tiny little shiny bits.

I think its a horrible practice, and shark, albeit tasty, shouldn't ever be something that should be killed in the numbers that they are right now.

And finning them is the most horrible act I can think of. It would be like getting mauled by a bear, having your arms and legs ripped off and then you being left there to die.

[MarkS]

At least you'd have a cute nickname -- torso boy!

[msweet]

I'd like to clarify a few points: first, the proposal is not for a ban on shark finning. Rather, an attempt is being made to ban the sale and possession of shark fins, including shark's fin soup.

It's also inaccurate to say that this is something that isn't being regulated or watched. Federal law prohibits bringing ashore fins without sharks attached to them--loopholes allow for the import of shark fins, usually from China and from Mexico**. California has laws protecting white and basking sharks in our coastal waters, and similar laws protect shark species in the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm not sure that I'd say that no one is trying to help. A lot of people are against finning--enough to get it on the federal books and to sponsor this proposal, which is in fact immensely popular in California, and mimics a ban just passed in Hawaii and two more currently proposed in Oregon and Washington state.

Moreover, opposition is not coming from people who think sharks are monsters who should be treated cruelly; it's coming from Asian-Americans who have strong cultural feelings about the consumption of shark's fin soup. Many oppose the ban because it criminalizes possession of all fins, including those taken from legally-caught sharks, meaning that any sharks fished for meat will have their fins stripped and and thrown out.

I'm not saying that the ban is bad, and shark finning is awful and clearly more needs to be done about it, but I think it's important to present things as clearly and objectively as possible.


**Update after a little research: the original federal law, passed under Clinton, banned finning in US waters and by US-registered vessels, but did not moderate foreign-registered vessels. This law was intended to ban the import of shark fins into the US without the associated shark carcass, but loopholes allowed for certain imports. In January of this year, President Obama signed the Shark Conservation Act to close the loopholes of the earlier law. The act prohibits boats from carrying more fins than they have carcasses, and any shark brought into port *must* have its fin attached.