Shark Coalition

Originally posted at www.hsi.org on 1/18/12

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, in a Jan. 17 press statement, announced its “Sustainable Seafood Policy” and their discontinued use of all shark fin products. Iris Ho, wildlife campaigns manager of Humane Society International, issued the following statement:

“Humane Society International applauds Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts for their announcement to cease serving shark fin products in all of their 72 hotels and resorts. As one of the most prominent luxury hotel groups, with headquarters in Hong Kong, Shangri-La’s decision comes at the most opportune time as the annual Lunar New Year celebrations, where shark fin soup is customarily served, will kick off across Asia next week. HSI will continue our hotel outreach campaign with local partners in Asia and hopes that other hospitality and culinary establishments will follow suit and remove themselves from participation in the cruel, wasteful and unsustainable trade in shark fins.”

Originally posted at www.chinadaily.com.cn on 12/9/11

Palauan fisheries officials have boarded and detained a Taiwanese fishing vessel suspected of illegal fishing activities during a joint patrol with Greenpeace of the Pacific Island nation’s exclusive economic zone.

The Greenpeace ship Esperanza and the Palauan patrol boat, PSS President H.I. Remeliik, are currently escorting the vessel Sheng Chi Hui to port.

A Greenpeace helicopter flight spotted the sharks and fins on board the Sheng Chi Hui on the morning of December 8th, while the fishing vessel was inside Palaun waters – which were declared a shark sanctuary in 2009.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted at www.hsi.org on 12/8/11

Humane Society International/Canada applauds the Honourable Fin Donnelly, Member of Parliament and Fisheries and Oceans Critic for the New Democratic Party of Canada for introducing federal legislation that would amend the Fish Inspection Act to prohibit the import of shark fins into Canada. Bill C-380 would prohibit importing or attempting to import shark fins that are not attached to the rest of the shark carcass, and amend the Fisheries Act to prohibit any person from engaging in the practice of shark finning in Canada waters.

“Up to 73 million sharks are killed every year to meet global demand for shark fins. Many have their fins sliced off and are then tossed back into the ocean to suffer a painful death,” said Sayara Thurston, campaigner for Humane Society International/Canada. “It is time for Canada to stop importing this cruelty by supporting this historic step to help end the international trade in shark fins.”

The legislation comes in the wake of numerous municipal prohibitions in the trade of shark fins that have recently passed in the cities of Brantford, London, Pickering and Toronto, Ontario. Earlier this year, California became the fourth US state to ban the possession, trade and sale of shark fins. In 2011, Taiwan announced that it would implement a fins-naturally-attached policy to reduce shark catches beginning in 2012, and last month the European Union proposed legislation to ban the practice of shark finning by EU vessels.

HSI/Canada believes this legislation is a strong step towards ending the global trade in shark fin products, and calls for bipartisan support to address this issue.

Facts:

• The demand for shark fin soup, coupled with unsustainable fishing methods, has led some shark populations to decline by as much as 99 percent in recent decades.
• Every year, tens of millions of sharks are killed solely for their fins, many of which are obtained through “finning,” a practice which involves slicing off the fins of a shark and discarding the animal at sea to drown, bleed to death, or be eaten alive by other animals.
•  Shark fin is often the most expensive item on restaurant menus and typically served simply as a symbol of status. It has no nutritional value and is the main driver of the multi-billion dollar international shark fin trade.

Originally posted at www.hsi.org on 11/21/11

Humane Society International/Europe applauds the European Commission for adopting a strong draft legislative proposal on shark finning. This proposal seeks to amend Regulation (EC) No. 1185/2003 on the removal of fins of sharks on board vessels which is presently one of the weakest finning regulations in the world. The new legislation would ensure that all sharks caught by EU vessels anywhere in the world must be landed with their fins naturally attached to their carcasses, without exception.

Dr. Joanna Swabe, HSI director for the EU, said:

“We are delighted that Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has delivered a robust proposal to close the gaping loopholes in the present EU shark finning regulation. It is, however, imperative that no attempt be made by any EU Member States or Members of the European Parliament to water down this legislative proposal. A ‘fins naturally attached’ policy, without exception, is the only way to end the cruel and wasteful practice of shark finning.”

The existing 2003 regulation on shark finning contains substantial loopholes that leave plenty of room for finning to occur.

Firstly, it includes a derogation that allows fishermen to remove the fins from sharks on board if they have a special permit to do so. For the Spanish and Portuguese longline fishing fleets, these permits have become the norm, rather than the exception.

Second, the EU has operated its shark fisheries under a “five percent rule” – allowing fins to be landed separately from carcasses, provided that they weigh no more than five percent of the whole shark. This means, in practice, two out of three sharks can still be finned while fishers apparently comply with the five percent rule.

The European Union is one of the largest exporters of shark fins to Asia. Spain and Portugal have the largest shark fisheries in Europe with pelagic longline fleets that operate in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

A recent public consultation conducted by the European Commission, which presented three possible policy options with regard to amending the regulation, found massive public support for a “fins-attached” policy.

Facts:

• Most shark fins are unrecognisable, in terms of species, unless they are attached to the carcass. Conversely, many carcasses cannot be identified by species when detached from the fins. The Commission itself admits this problem of identification is a serious obstacle to rational management of the EU’s shark fisheries.
• The current EU regulation allows room for “high-grading.” Fishers have been found to be removing and retaining high-value carcasses and high-value fins, while throwing overboard the low-value carcasses and fins. This enables them to fin large numbers of sharks and still present a catch at port that appears to abide by the five percent rule.
• Shark carcasses may be landed at one port and fins at another. This makes it virtually impossible to apply the five percent rule.
• Sharks are very vulnerable to overfishing. Some European shark fisheries closed in the 1950s have yet to re-open because stocks have not rebounded.
• One-third of European shark and ray species and one-third of open-ocean sharks are classified as “threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Significant numbers of open-ocean sharks, blue and mako in particular, are taken in EU high seas fisheries.
• Economic growth in Asia has resulted in increasing demand for shark fin soup, the principal driver of shark finning. Sharks that used to be considered unwanted “bycatch” are now targeted specifically for their fins.
• Spain has consistently been in the top seven exporters to almost all major markets, including Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.

Originally posted at www.chinadaily.com.cn on 11/17/11

By Doug Meigs

The tradition of serving shark fin soup is devastating global shark populations. The State of California and City of Toronto banned sales of shark fin in October. Activists hope global momentum prompts new regulations in Hong Kong.

Half the world’s harvested shark fins pass through Hong Kong, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). On the streets adjoining Des Voeux Road West and Bonham Strand in Central, deliverymen can be seen lugging crates of the precious merchandise through bustling traffic. Giant shark fins – with price tags as high as HK$5,000 per kg – radiate a sense of affluence from storefront displays along Des Voeux Road West. Inside the shops, dried fins of all sizes spill from overstuffed bags and shelves. Signs warn: “photography prohibited”. Vendors don’t appreciate gawking tourists or camera-toting environmentalists. Bathed in pungent aromas of traditional Chinese medicine and seafood, customers peruse dried wares. Hong Kong’s Marine Products Association estimates that roughly 200 local retail and wholesale sellers occupy the blocks in the immediate vicinity, making Sheung Wan ground zero for a controversial industry.

Glancing out at the scene, Ho Siu-chai continues working at his desk at the back of his shop on Des Voeux Road West. Ho, now 55, began selling shark fins in the neighborhood more than 30 years ago. He started working for another trader and eventually opened his own store. He sells different dried marine products, but shark fin provides more than half his income.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted at www.fijitimes.com on 11/7/11

Sharks that lure tourists back to our waters in a multi-million-dollar industry are seeing red.

Ten species of sharks highlighted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN) on its Red List, which gauges the level of threat against endangered wildlife species, have been identified as top-of-the-range in Fiji’s fin trade.

And among the ICUN’s “near threatened” and “vulnerable” red-listed sharks are the country’s main attractions in shark-related tourism activities.

A study on the shark fin trade in Suva conducted by Dr Demian Chapman, the assistant director of science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, Stony Creek University in New York, shows that a large amount of sharks killed for their fins are those that frequent dive spots which tourists visit for shark encounters.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted at cnn.com on 10/29/11

by Steve Almasy

For millions of years, sharks have been the kings of the oceans, the top of the food chain.

But these days, the hunter has become the hunted, because of better methods from commercial fishermen who are looking for fins to make expensive, exotic soup sold mostly in Asia. Shark fins are far more valuable than shark meat, so fisherman cut the fins off live fish and throw the sharks overboard to maximize the catch they bring back. Shark finning is illegal in the United States.

Another foe is tournament sport fishermen, who target and kill the biggest ones they take from the sea.

These tournaments — dozens each year in the United States — attract large crowds of anglers but also draw protests from animal rights groups and environmentalists.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted at www.ticotimes.net on 10/27/11

by Karla Arias Alvarado

Two weeks ago, more than 2,000 sharks were killed in a Colombia marine sanctuary by alleged Costa Rican shark finner boats

On Oct. 14, at least 2,000 sharks were discovered dead with their fins removed in Colombia’s Malpelo National Park and marine sanctuary, off the Pacific coast. That day, many Costa Ricans – already sensitive to foreign fleets shark finning in their country’s waters – discovered that the alleged perpetrators in the Colombia incident were 10 Costa Rican ships. The country’s “green” image had received another blow.

Although two weeks have passed, Costa Rican officials say they are still waiting for Colombian authorities to file a formal complaint over the incident.

“I have received a report [that is] very shocking from divers who arrived from Russia to observe the high concentration of sharks in Malpelo. They found numerous fishing boats entering the area illegally,” said Sandra Bessudo, an environmental adviser to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Colombian authorities said that divers found thousands of dead sharks.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted at lapress.org on 10/27/11

Colombian government asks for investigation

Colombia is demanding that the government of Costa Rica clear up the massacre of an estimated 2,000 sharks near an island off the Colombian coast, apparently by Costa Rican fishermen.

In a statement on Oct. 16, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said it had sent the navy to Malpelo Wildlife Sanctuary, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to investigate the killing of the silky, Galapagos and hammerhead sharks, many of which were found with their fins cut off.

Shark-finning is illegal in Costa Rica and in Colombia. Costa Rica said it would investigate the matter, which has gained more attention in recent years. The Central American country is credited with being the first Latin American country to ban the practice of shark-finning, but a powerful fishing sector often ignores the law, environmental activists have said.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted at www.guardian.co.uk on 10/27/11

by Suzanne Goldenberg

Scientists and law-makers across the world are prioritising the protection of sharks, but critics say the measures don’t work

The shark that lands on the deck of the Coral Princess boat is 6.5ft of thrashing grey muscle and teeth, and the crew can’t wait to get their hands on him.

They slip a plastic breathing tube through rows of sharp, serrated teeth to pump water over its gills, and get to work: measuring, taking blood and tissue samples, and drilling a small hole in its dorsal fin to attach a satellite transmitter. The device looks a bit like a bath toy.

Seven minutes later, the bull shark is back in the water. He’s got a new name (Ben), a corporate sponsor, and a website that tracks his location every time his fin breaks the surface of the water.

(Read full article here)