US poised to ban lucrative shark fin trade

The US is poised to ban the lucrative trade in shark fins, a move conservationists hope will help protect millions of sharks that are butchered every year to satisfy demand in China and other parts of Asia.

The practice of shark finning, whereby sharks are caught for their fins and their carcasses then dumped back into the ocean, has been banned in US waters for decades. But the US remains a major hub for the brisk trade, where as many as 73 million fins are sliced off of sharks around the world each year.

The House and Senate passed identical versions of the proposed ban as part of a broader defence spending bill that President Joe Biden is expected to sign into law. Once he does, it will be illegal for Americans to buy, sell, transport or even possess foreign-caught fins – something ocean conservation activists have long sought.

Every year, American port inspectors seize thousands of dried, foreign-caught shark fins in undeclared shipments headed to China and other parts of Asia where shark fin soup is a delicacy.

“Our ports are no longer open for business for shark fins,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director with the ocean conservation group Oceana. “That will take them out of the supply chain and we expect it to disrupt the global fin market.”

But some scientists who study shark fisheries are not so certain. They believe the legislation will have little impact on the trade in shark fins and will only serve to shut down a regulated American fishery for shark meat and other legal products.