Shark finning continues despite EU ban, says report
By Mark Kinver, Science and environment reporter, BBC News
9 December 2010 Last updated at 04:53 ET Loopholes in EU regulations mean that illegal shark finning is continuing undetected, a report warns. Finning involves cutting off a shark’s fins and throwing the rest of the carcass back into the sea – a practice that the EU has regulated since 2003. Marine experts are calling on the EU to stop issuing special permits that allow fishermen to remove fins at sea. The authors say almost a fifth of shark, skate and ray species are classified as threatened. “The waste and unsustainable mortality associated with finning pose threats to shark populations, fisheries, food security and the sustainability of marine ecosystems,” said co-author Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group (SSG). “The most reliable way to enforce a shark-finning prohibition is to require that sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached to their bodies,” she suggested. “This method is being mandated for more and more fisheries, particularly in Central and North America, creating momentum for global change.” In the EU, shark finning is banned except where special permits have been issued that allows a fishing vessel to fin sharks at sea, without landing the entire animal. Under the present regulation (1185/2003), member states are able to issue the permits to exempt fishing vessels from the finning at sea “ban”. Under the exemption, the weight of fins kept from the catch must not exceed 5% of the live weight of the shark catch. However, the authors observed, the fins of some shark species did not typically represent 5% of the live weight of a shark, creating a loophole that meant finning could take place unnoticed. … The report – Shark Fins in Europe: Implications for reforming the EU finning ban [pdf] – was produced, the authors said, in order to highlight the weaknesses in the current system. “For too long, the EU has left the door open to shark finning,” said Uta Bellion, European co-ordinator of the Shark Alliance. …
