An estimated 100 million sharks are slaughtered each year.  Shark fins are coveted for their supposed medicinal value, and as a part of status symbols like shark fin soup in China.  The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that a third of all open ocean sharks are threatened by extinction because of finning.  The current US national law regarding shark finning relies on a regulation known as the 5% ratio rule.  The Journal of Fish Biology published an article in 2012 that concluded, “the generalized 5% ratio used in many of the existing regulations presents a dangerous loophole, which provides an opportunity for fishers to land extra sharks without consequences.” The illegal trading of shark fins has supported organized crime in Costa Rica and Taiwan, and has put the world’s oceans on the edge of ecological collapse.  The Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 needs to be replaced with stricter regulations that completely ban the taking of sharks, and the trading of their fins.

Hawaii implemented a statewide ban on the trade of shark fins in 2000 that found great success.  The Marine Resource Economics journal found that illegal shark fin imports to Hong Kong from the US decreased by 54% as a result of Hawaii’s ban.  An outright trade ban has proved effective, so why is Congress dragging its feet with weak, loophole-filled regulations?  Congress needs a national law like Hawaii's.

Removing apex predators, like sharks, can put entire ecosystems at risk.  The US cannot ignore this unsutainable and ihumane practice.  Congress has the power, the commerce clause of the constitution, to  put a stop to the fin trade, let's tell them to do it.

Sign this petition to bring the national shark fin ban to congress!

Statistic sources:

Biery, L., and D. Pauly. "A global review of species-specific shark-fin-to-body-mass ratios and relevant legislation." Journal of Fish Biology. 80.5 (2012): 1643-1677. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 

Cemare, Trond Bjorndal, Shelley Clarke, and E.J. Milner-Gulland. "Social, economic, and regulatory drivers of the shark fin trade." Marine Resource Economics 22.3 (2007): 305+. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

Mcguire, David. "Fighting to Save the Oceans' Top Predators." Earth Island Journal. 28.4 (2014): 16-17. Google Scholar. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.

Sharkwater. Rob Stewart. 2006 Freestyle Releasing, 2007. DVD