A Little More About The Shark Finning Problem!

So I am hoping that people have linked to this blog and are interested in learning a bit more about the problem of shark finning. The summary I have provided below is a portion of our strategic memorandum that All Fins Attached will be distributing to environmental and stakeholder interest groups as we seek their participation and support in our campaign. Enjoy the read, and learn about the campaign we are starting and the importance of the petition we want you to sign that we can present to legislators.

Sharks are a critically important species in the oceans.  As top predators in many marine ecosystems, sharks prey on the sick and old fish and help maintain a healthy balance in the marine environment.[1]  Sharks are often portrayed in the media as man-eating killing machines, but the truth is far from this stigmatized representation.  It is true that sharks will bite humans, and that each year a number of fatal attacks occur.  For example, data complied by the American Elasmobranch Society in The International Shark Attack File indicate that in 2010 there were 79 shark attacks worldwide, 6 of which were fatal.[2]  These statistics pale in comparison to the projected negative impact that humans are having on shark species.

Shark populations are declining throughout the Earth’s oceans.  Each year, 73 million to 100 million sharks are killed solely for their fins.[3]  Shark fins are used solely for shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese dish that is regarded as a status symbol within the Chinese community (both in China and throughout the world).[4]  In addition to being sold at restaurants, shark fin soup is one of the dishes served at the traditional wedding banquet dinner and at other prestigious events.  The demand for shark fin soup has increased dramatically over the last two decades with the emergence of a large middle class in China willing to spend disposable income on traditional luxury items, and with increased availability throughout Chinese communities in the Western world.[5]

       The fins from sharks are most often obtained through the cruel practice of shark finning.  This practice involves capturing live sharks (either through targeted fishing activities or as bycatch in other fisheries), and then the dorsal and pectoral fins are sliced off of the live shark and the rest of the shark is thrown overboard back into the ocean where it will slowly drown, be eaten alive, or die from blood loss.[6]  Generally speaking, sharks are slow growing fish that to not reach sexual maturity until later in life, and once sexual maturity is reached they produce only a few number of young each year (biologists refer to this life history as k-selected).[7]  An unfortunate consequence of this life history is that sharks populations are not able to respond to an extinction pressure like over-fishing by increasing reproduction, and consequently they are highly susceptible to extinction.  As a result of shark finning, most shark species have declined by 10-20% and certain targeted species have declined by 70-90%.[8]  

Virginia’s state waters are habitat for about 20 species of shark, most of which are migratory and spend the spring and summer off of Virginia’s coast and then move south in the winter months.[9]  Common species include the sandbar shark (which breeds in Chesapeake Bay), the dusky shark (which uses the Eastern shore as a nursery ground), Atlantic sharpnose, and the smooth dogfish.[10]  Other species of shark that frequent Virginia’s state waters include the bull shark, tiger shark, sand tiger shark, smooth hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, and the blacktip shark.[11]  Today the population of large sharks in Virginia’s waters is only 50% of what it was in the 1970s as a result of over-fishing.[12]  

The international community has, to date, failed to effectively address the issue of shark finning.  The trade of shark fins has become highly lucrative (estimated at between US$400-550 million dollars), further incenting fishermen to fin sharks rather than keep them with fins attached since this maximizes the amount of room on board fishing vessels for high-value fins and minimizes the space occupied by low-value shark meat.[13]  Further, finning is practiced by a large number of nations and on the high seas where it is difficult to regulate and enforce fishing practices.

2010 witnessed the emergence of creative American state and federal legislation that hopes to address this issue.  Federally, finning has been banned in federally regulated waters and legislative loopholes that once allowed for the transport of fins has been closed.[14]  Hawaii has taken a different approach to the issue, banning the possession of shark fins recognizing that it is necessary to regulate the demand-side component (i.e. shark fin soup consumption) as much as the act of finning itself to protect sharks.[15]  Hawaii’s ban on shark fin possession has been mirrored by similar legislation in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and identical legislation has been proposed in California, Oregon, and Washington State.[16]  Shark fin soup is served at approximately 10 restaurants in Virginia, it is also available for service at Chinese wedding banquets that can host up to 500 individuals for one meal, and sharks are also an attractive sport and trophy fish that are caught by charter boat captains in both near-shore and off-shore fishing trips.  In our opinion, now is the appropriate time to address the consumption of shark fin soup since Virginia’s anglers and charter boat captains have a commercial interest in maintaining shark populations off of Virginia and the limited consumption of soup, while still significant, makes it ideal to act before consumption or the availability of shark fin soup increases or gains further traction in America.  We do not have the ability to stop consumption in China or to eliminate the act of finning on the high seas, but reducing consumption and local demand is possible, as is demonstrating to other jurisdictions that shark finning is inappropriate and will no longer be tolerated.   

SOURCES:

[1] Holly Edwards, When Predators Become Prey: The Need For International Shark Conservation, 12 Ocean & Coastal L.J. 305, 306 (2006-2007).

[2] George H. Burgess, ISAF 2010 Worldwide Shark Attack Summary 
(REVISED: 1 February 2011) (Feb. 1, 2011), http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/isaf/2010summary.html.

[3] Shelley Clarke et al., Social, Economic, and Regulatory Drivers of the Shark Fin Trade, 22 Marine Resource Economics 305, 306 (2007); Linda Paul, International Trade in Shark Fins, & Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Shark Finning, Hawaii Audubon Society, 3 (2009), available at http://www.pacfish.org/pub09/sharktrade.pdf; Holly Edwards, When Predators Become Prey: The Need For International Shark Conservation, 12 Ocean & Coastal L.J. 305, 316 (2006-2007).

[4] Clarke, id. at 305.

[5] Id.

[6] See Julie B. Martin, The Price of Fame: CITES Regulation and Efforts Towards International Protection of the Great White Shark, 39 The Geo. Wash. Int’l L. Rev. 199, 202 (2007); See also Jennifer O’Brien and Randall Szabo, 2009 Legislative Review, 16 Animal L. 371, 377 (2009-2010); See also Spiegel, supra note 2, at 409.

[7] See Rachel Cunnngham-Day, Sharks In Danger: Global Shark Conservation Status with Reference to Management Plans and Legislation 15 (2001).

[8] Romney Philpott, Why Sharks May Have Nothing More to Fear than Fear Itself: An Analysis of the Effect of Human Attitudes on the Conservation of the Great White Shark, 13 Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y 445, 446 (2002).

[9] Steven Branstetter and John Musick, Sharks of Virginia Waters (undated), http://web.vims.edu/GreyLit/VIMS/mrr92-7.pdf?svr=www.

[10] Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences: School of Marine Science, Shark Fact Sheet (and List of Common Species) (Aug. 3, 2010), http://web.vims.edu/fastnews/sharknews.html?svr=www.

[11] Id.; See also Branstetter and Musick, supra note 9.

[12] See Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences: School of Marine Science, supra note 10.

[13] Clarke, supra note 3, at 306; Philpott, supra note 8, at 452.

[14] Shark Conservation Act of 2010, 6 U.S.C.A. § 1426 (West 2011). 

[15] Clarke, supra note 3, at 305; Haw. Rev. Stat. § 188 (West 2010).

[16] See Patrick McGreeny, Proposed Shark Fin Ban Stirs the Pot, Los Angeles Times (Feb. 14, 2011), available at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2011/02/proposed-shark-fin-ban-stirs-the-pot.html (describing how Democratic Assemblymen Paul Fong and Jared Huffan just introduced legislation to prohibit the shark fin trade and fin consumption in California); See also Noaki Schwartz, California Legislation Would Ban Sale of Shark Fin, Associated Press (Feb. 14, 2011), available at http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17384973 (noting that Oregon and Washington are considering similar legislation).