California banned the purchase or possession of shark fins in 2013, but at least 60 tons of them are known to still pass through the Port of Los Angeles each year. Now one local member of Congress is pushing the federal government to take a tougher stance on cracking down on the trade.
Even though California and 11 other states have completely outlawed the sale of shark fins, that leaves a number of states where they can legally be traded. As long as the cargo claims to be destined for those destinations, it’s allowed to pass through local ports—and, at the moment, 92 percent of the shark fin products coming into the U.S. do. The bill that Representative Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) will introduce before the House this week would close that loophole by banning the fins nationwide, the L.A. Times reports.
What makes shark fins, the key ingredient in the famous Chinese delicacy shark fin soup, different from other animal protein that gets trafficked around the world? Ban supporters point to a practice known as "finning," in which live sharks are caught, stripped of their fins, and then tossed back, unable to swim, and left to die slowly on the ocean floor. An estimated 73 million sharks are killed for the fin trade each year, sometimes including species considered protected or endangered by U.S. authorities.
“By allowing the sale of shark fins from foreign fisheries that have little to no regulations, we’re indirectly incentivizing the cruel and wasteful practice of shark finning that is putting the survival of many shark populations in jeopardy,” said Lora Snyder, a spokesperson for the environmental advocacy group Oceana, which favors the ban.
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