One of the most controversial and hotly debated topics in shark conservation is finning – cutting off a shark’s fins and dumping its body at sea. US law already bans this and requires that sharks caught in its waters be landed and documented before fins can be removed for sale. Despite this, illegal finning does go on there, while caterers and restaurants are still free to dish up the Asian delicacy shark fin soup.
Finning is a practice that scientists, environmentalists and animal welfare advocates – animals are left to bleed to death or suffocate. But that’s often where agreement ends. Among scientists, there is growing division over a before the US Congress to ban trade in fins within US borders. Some think this would be a bad idea, harming conservation efforts.
They include David Shiffman at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and Bob Hueter of Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, who question the proposal in a recent . While applauding its goal – saving threatened species -they conclude a blanket prohibition on possessing, buying or selling fins in the US is unwise.
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They argue that this would undermine decades of progress towards sustainable shark fisheries there and elsewhere. The US has some of the most sustainable shark fisheries in the world and they would be less financially viable if unable to sell fins. Other than the Atlantic spiny dogfish catch, certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, all other fins from US catches, which are recognised as sustainable by other bodies, would have to be binned.
Facing extinction
It’s a seemingly counterintuitive requirement for a conservation measure designed to combat not just inhumane treatment, but unnecessary waste. The risk is that sustainable US shark catches will decline and unsustainable ones in other nations will take up the slack. And those fisheries are more likely to be catching species of shark that are facing extinction.
What’s more, a US ban, assuming fishermen elsewhere don’t fill the supply gap, would barely impact global shark mortality. The country produces about 1 per cent of the shark fins sent for global trade, and buys in 0.2 per cent from this market place (some being US fins that were processed abroad).
“You’re taking away the livelihood… of people that were fishing sustainably and doing it right, and possibly giving increased market share to those that are doing it wrong,” says Hueter. He advocates stiffer penalties for lawbreakers caught finning, and favours replacement legislation in development: the Sustainable Shark Trade Act of 2017.
A US fin ban could also further a misconception that demand for shark fin soup is the only threat facing sharks. About a quarter of the world’s 400-plus shark species and their relatives are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For sharks, “overfishing is a major problem”, their greatest threat, says Shiffman. But finning is only one aspect of this.
Banning the shark fin trade within the US could harm ongoing conservation efforts that focus on the promotion of sustainable fisheries at home and abroad and on improving traceability to ensure all fin products sold in the US come from such sources. It might be a tough suggestion to swallow, but it’s time to consider putting “made in the USA: sustainably sourced shark fin soup” on the menu.
Read more: When humans attack: The fallout of the shark slaughter
