I
Ian Cloke
Guest
CONSERVATIONISTS are pointing to the importance of a vote in a week's time in the European Parliament on the tightening or weakening of the European regulation on shark finning.
The debate is set for Wednesday September 27 with the vote the day after in Strasbourg.
Conservation group Oceana say the wasteful practice of shark finning -- slicing off a shark?s valuable fins and discarding the body at sea ? is exacerbating serious declines in vulnerable shark populations. Public outcry they say, has led to finning bans in the EU, many other countries and most international waters.
They add the EU finning ban is already among the world?s most lenient and a report from the Parliament?s Fisheries Committee aims to further weaken the rules, rendering the ban all but meaningless. The Parliament must decide, they say whether to accept or correct troubling recommendations in the Committee?s report.
The Parliament?s Fisheries Committee report on the EU shark finning regulation contains a recommendation to increase the allowable ratio of shark fins to bodies (the means of checking whether the amount of fins corresponds to the amount of shark bodies taken) to 6.5%, particularly for blue sharks ? a species proposed as threatened under the IUCN Red List. This inflated value is more than three times the IUCN standard (2%) and would facilitate illegal finning of two or three sharks for every single shark landed,says Oceana.
Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing. Most grow slowly and have few young. Two thirds of European sharks evaluated are considered threatened by IUCN Red List criteria. There are no EU or international catch limits for the oceanic sharks most likely to be finned. A science-based fin to body ratio is a first step to sustainable shark fisheries.
The debate is set for Wednesday September 27 with the vote the day after in Strasbourg.
Conservation group Oceana say the wasteful practice of shark finning -- slicing off a shark?s valuable fins and discarding the body at sea ? is exacerbating serious declines in vulnerable shark populations. Public outcry they say, has led to finning bans in the EU, many other countries and most international waters.
They add the EU finning ban is already among the world?s most lenient and a report from the Parliament?s Fisheries Committee aims to further weaken the rules, rendering the ban all but meaningless. The Parliament must decide, they say whether to accept or correct troubling recommendations in the Committee?s report.
The Parliament?s Fisheries Committee report on the EU shark finning regulation contains a recommendation to increase the allowable ratio of shark fins to bodies (the means of checking whether the amount of fins corresponds to the amount of shark bodies taken) to 6.5%, particularly for blue sharks ? a species proposed as threatened under the IUCN Red List. This inflated value is more than three times the IUCN standard (2%) and would facilitate illegal finning of two or three sharks for every single shark landed,says Oceana.
Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing. Most grow slowly and have few young. Two thirds of European sharks evaluated are considered threatened by IUCN Red List criteria. There are no EU or international catch limits for the oceanic sharks most likely to be finned. A science-based fin to body ratio is a first step to sustainable shark fisheries.