EU shark-fin ban welcomed
Posted, November 22, 2011 @ 11:00
The EU has finally proposed an outright ban on shark finning, in a move welcomed by European Parliament fisheries committee Vice-President Struan Stevenson MEP, a longstanding campaigner against the practice.
Shark finning is the practice where fishermen cut the valuable fins from a shark and throw the rest of the shark back in the water - often still alive. The practice has officially been illegal since 2003 but a loophole in the law only requires the weight of the fins caught to be around five percent of the total shark catch. As the average fin-to-shark ratio is around two percent, this effectively means that at least half of the sharks that are finned need not be landed.
Now EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki is proposing a complete ban on 'finning' on all EU vessels around the world.
Mr Stevenson fought off Spanish efforts in 2006 to increase the fin to fish ratio to 6.5 percent, and he has long campaigned for a complete end to the barbaric practice so that every shark caught must be landed, rather than thrown back to die a lingering and agonising death.
Mr Stevenson, Conservative MEP for Scotland, said:
"Sharks may have an image problem but they are crucial to the ocean's ecosystem. The practice of shark finning is both detrimental to our marine environment and unacceptably cruel to the shark.
"Sharks that are finned often list around on the ocean bed until they are attacked or they starve to death. Many people may not love sharks but they all see the cruelty in leaving a creature to die a painful and slow death.
"The shark finning trade is extremely lucrative and the punishments are miniscule compared to the rewards. EU law and monitoring need to change so that European fishermen are harshly punished for enacting cruelty and threatening some shark species.
"When these proposals come before MEPs I have no doubt that a few countries will seek to water them down. However, we will push for a rigorous ban.
"We need a ban on finning that enables fishermen to catch sharks in a way that puts conservation and humane treatment before making a quick buck."