By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff Writer,Monday, December 20, 2010
The Senate passed a landmark shark conservation bill Monday that would close loopholes that had allowed the lucrative shark fin trade to continue operations off the West Coast.
The measure would require any vessel to land sharks with their fins attached prevent non-fishing vessels from transporting fins without their carcasses. The practice of cutting off a shark's fins and dumping its body overboard, which is now banned off the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico but not the Pacific, has expanded worldwide due to rising demand for shark's fin soup in Asia.
"Shark finning has fueled massive population declines and irreversible disruption of our oceans," said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass), the bill's author, in a statement. "Finally we've come through with a tough approach to tackle this serious threat to our marine life."
To become a law this year, the bill would still need to be passed by the House, which could act as soon as Tuesday. The lower chamber has already passed similar legislation written by Del. Madeline Bordallo (D-Guam), and backers said they hoped the House would act in the scant time it has left.
"It's a real nail biter," said Michael Hirshfield, chief scientist for the advocacy group Oceana.
While Congress passed legislation aimed at protecting sharks a decade ago, shark finning has continued because the fins fetch a far higher price than the meat. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service 1.2 million pounds of sharks were caught last year in the Pacific, though it does not detail what portion of those landings were fins.
The bill would also allow federal authorities to identify and list which fishing vessels hail from nations that do not have the same shark conservation rules as the U.S.
While the legislation enjoys bipartisan support, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla) blocked it on Sept. 29 on the grounds that implementing it would cost taxpayers money. The bill sponsors offset the measure's five-year, $5 million cost by cutting that amount from a federal fisheries grant program over the next two years.
"The bill was snatched from the jaws of defeat," said Matt Rand, who directs global shark conservation at the Pew Environment Group, adding it would help federal officials when they negotiate for stricter global catch limits on sharks. "It gives the U.S. a further leadership role and mandate to push for shark conservation from other countries."
The Obama administration has pushed for cuts in global shark fishing quotas, with mixed results: in November international authorities banned the catch of oceanic whitetip and several types of hammerhead sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, but international negotiators declined to impose trade restrictions on several shark species this spring.
Nancy Perry, vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Human Society, said the measure would both spare individual sharks "the unspeakable cruelty" of finning and could help broader shark populations recover off America's coasts.
