Europe urged to back global ban on shark finning

The European commission has proposed a total ban on EU vessels removing shark's fins at sea and discarding the body
Press Association guardian.co.uk 21 Nov 11;

Europe's governments were urged today to back a global ban on EU fishermen removing shark fins at sea.

Shark finning – cutting off a shark's fin and discarding the body – is driven by a profitable market for the delicacy of shark fin soup in Asia.

A general ban on the practice has been in force in the EU since 2003, but with exceptions which allow some countries to issue fishing permits for removing shark fins as long as both the fin and body are landed and that the total fins caught do not exceed 5% of the live weight of sharks caught.

The UK ended such permits in 2009, but the EU is one of the world's largest suppliers of shark fins to Asia, largely because of the volume exported by Spain and Portugal.

Now the European commission has proposed a total ban, to be applied to EU vessels, anywhere in the world.

Maria Damanaki, commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, said: "By closing the loophole in our legislation, we want to eradicate the appalling removal of shark fins and provide much better protection for sharks."

She said controls would be stepped up, making it harder to hide "finning", and she urged EU governments and MEPs to speed the legislation through.

Once approved, the move means vessels fishing in EU waters - and all EU vessels fishing in the world - must land sharks with fins attached to the body.

Ali Hood, the Shark Trust's director of conservation, said: "The Shark Trust will look to the UK government to show leadership among the member states and champion the adoption of a 'fins-naturally-attached policy', with no exceptions."

EU director of Humane Society International Joanna Swabe warned: "It is imperative that no attempt be made by any EU member states or MEPs 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 organisation says the permit system has become the norm, rather than the exception, for the Spanish and Portuguese longline fleets.

Ricardo Aguilar, research director at Oceana, the international marine conservation organisation, said: "By opting for a fins-attached approach, the European commission has heeded the advice of experts worldwide: landing sharks with their fins still naturally attached is the only possible way to guarantee that finning does not occur.

"Furthermore, if all sharks must be landed with their fins attached, it will be much easier to identify the species caught, and therefore, to gather critical data about the status of shark populations."

Globally, up to 73 million sharks are killed each year to satisfy the demand of the international shark fin market. EU nations combined catch the second-largest share of sharks - 14% of the world's reported shark catches.