Shark Fin Workaround - Where There's a Market

The shark fin legal game - fins attached?

"Foreign fishing ships are bringing in shark skeletons – the flesh shaved away – with just their fins attached to the body. Local fishermen see this as another way that fishing fleets are evading shark finning laws."

This mornings news from San José, Costa Rica is a lesson in real world shark fin management with an apparent workaround to new shark fin laws that require the fins remain attached to the shark.

But what constitutes a whole shark?

That questions will have to be decided by the court system in Costa Rica while Taiwanese ships find creative ways to continue the shark fin trade unabated and it's not the first time this has happened:

"After Incopesca and the Agriculture and Livestock Ministry finally ruled in December 2010 that foreign fleets must unload at public docks subject to inspection, the first boat to unload was caught with illegal fins onboard. Shortly afterward, the fleet started showing up at the dock with only other species and no sharks. At the same time, huge shipments of shark fins began being imported to Costa Rica from Nicaragua."

The news from Costa Rica serves as an abject lesson to shark conservationists worldwide, we have to be looking a better ways to enact laws as seen through the lens of fishing fleets whose livelihood depends on shark fin. Additionally conservation groups need to refocus on recent vast tracks of declared shark sanctuaries around the world.

While these sanctuaries look great on paper only a small percent have any capability to actually monitor or enforce these areas. The new focus should be for long term funding and enforcement by outside agencies and NGO's.

Fisheries laws are made to be circumvented, and ignored.

Phase two in the global race for sharks begins now with this wake up call.

Sharks and DNA Zip Codes - Hope?

An international team of scientists, led by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, has used DNA to determine that groups of dusky sharks (Carcharhinus obscurus) and copper sharks (Carcharhinus brachyurus) living in different coastal regions across the globe are separate populations of each species. Both are large apex predators that are heavily exploited for the shark fin trade, which claims tens of millions of animals every year to produce the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup.

Many of these species are declining as a result of this fishing pressure for their fins.

DNA research projects were conducted by a collaborative international team of scientists from the United States, Australia, South America, Asia, New Zealand and southern Africa. The scientists collectively analyzed part of the mitochondrial DNA in nearly 400 sharks sampled from all over the globe.

This research was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts through a grant to the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University. Sequence data were collected in the Field Museum's Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution, operated with support from the Pritzker Foundation. Additional sequence data were collected at the Guy Harvey Research Institute with operational funds and a grant from the Save Our Seas Foundation. Funding was also provided by the Turner Fellowship Program and the Tinker Foundation.

For more information on "Global phylogeography of the dusky shark, Carcharhinus obscurus: implications for fisheries management and monitoring the shark fin trade," visit here.

For more information on "Phylogeography of the copper shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus) in the southern hemisphere: implications for the conservation of a coastal apex predator," visit here.

Hawaii Shark Fin Bill - Update

We just got a recent update from Stefanie Brendl of Shark Allies today.

Her efforts in Hawaii are a prime example of how boots on the ground efforts can help shark conservation regionally. Her teams efforts to change the laws regarding legal shark fin operators in Hawaii are an encouragement to the industry.

We recently had a conservation with someone who thinks it is "o.k" to support commercial shark take and fining in New Zealand. Efforts like Stefanies and the overwhelming support she has garnered from the shark dive industry show that this activity is never "o.k" in any form:

From Stefani:

We were able to get bill through two committees in the Senate and the Senate vote. Then it travelled over to the House, where it was referred to 3 committees. Since this is a short session, committing a bill to 3 is a clear indication that they wanted it killed. It was nearly impossible with the time constraints, to get it through in time. But we did.

The bill was struck down in the last committee, House Judiciary. Everyone thought it was dead. We didn't give up and put pressure on the committee chair and co-chair to bring it back to hearing. This is when the Hawaiian community finally started to get involved.

With great reluctance from chair Karamatsu we were able to bring it back and it was passed out of committee just in the nick of time. It also passed the House floor vote. Mostly because it the bill has a defective date and is therefore forced into committee (see explanation below).

The first conference committee didn't go well. It is apparent that there are a few strong members in the house that are actively fighting to kill this bill. We have been able to address all the opposing groups, including researchers and fisheries. What is left is the fact that people want to continue to eat shark fin soup. There may also be some commercial fishermen that are still lobbying to keep a market for shark fins, but we are not sure.

All we know is that despite the overwhelming evidence and support for this bill, there is a strong group pulling the strings to stop it. And they are not coming out in the open. They are operating in the background of the legislature, influencing key members.


I have been mobilizing the forces with the help of a list of shark organizations, Wild Aid, Mission Blue etc . And we are currently looking to get Chinese support and voices to speak out on the issue as possible. Locally and internationally. Getting lots of letters from Hong Kong and West Coast organizations in support, as well as celebrities.

Right now it really comes down to showing everyone that not all Chinese want to eat shark fin soup anymore. That it is not a cultural attack. It is a question of sustainability.

We are also planning a big press conference on Sunday, and hope to have the Royal order of Kamehamea there to express the view point of the Hawaiian community.

In a few hours we have the 2nd conference meeting. So I have to run.

Here is a link to the bill and it’s status. If you click on the pdf version, you can download the actual bill.

A note to the “Defective Date” at the end of the bill:

This defective date was added by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee chair felt that the current version of the bill was not ready to become law; therefore a defective date was added to give more time for discussion. This also allowed for the bill to stay alive and to continue traveling on its course through the Senate and House. It also forced the bill into “conference”, meaning that after all committees have had hearings and added amendments, representatives from both sides (Senate and House) have to come together to discuss a final version that everyone can agree on. Only then can the defective date be removed.

The ongoing battle:

Shark organizations, activists, celebrities, business leaders and leading marine scientists from all over the world have been actively lending their support through hundreds of letters, statements, phone calls, videos and photos.


Support for this bill, locally and internationally, has been overwhelming. Polls have shown an obvious majority of 72% of Hawaii residents want shark finning to stop and are against allowing shark fin soup.


In Hawaii, the driving forces behind this bill are:

Senator Clayton Hee and his staff

Inga Gibson from the Humane Society of the United States

Vicky and Ginny Tiu

Stefanie Brendl from Shark Allies


Media


“Shark Fin Ban Still Alive”- KHON Report by Andrew Pereire



“Shark FINale?” – Editorial by Star Bulletin


“Ban shark fin possession” – Editorial Star Bulletin


“Humans: A dangerous predator” -West Hawaii Today


“The Endangered Hawaiian Shark Is Endangering Hawaiian Culture”– by Eryn-Ashlei Bailey




“Hawaii Legislators Make Unprecedented Move to Protect Sharks”, PR Web article by Laleh Mohajerani



“House Judiciary Chair Defers a Bill to Ban Shark Fins” – Hawaii Reporter


“Hawaii revives shark fin ban legislation”- Bikya Masr Egypy


San Francisco Chronicle- letter to the editor by David Barkley


German news on Shark fin bill