Euro Commission proposal boosts shark conservation hopes

The European Commission has proposed existing loopholes in the European Union’s ban on shark finning, the wasteful practice of slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the body at sea, be closed.

Project AWARE and Shark Alliance member groups have welcomed the long-awaited proposal.

The proposal follows the public consultation on the amendment of a Council Regulation on the removal of fins of sharks on board vessels that run until February 2011. Project AWARE contributed to the consultation to address the specific questions presented in the consultation and voice its support to the fins-attached approach.

Marine conservationists and International experts have increasingly recognised that this approach can bring significant benefits for shark management and conservation, including simpler and more effective enforcement, and improved collection of data on shark catches, which is critical for improving our knowledge about the status of shark populations.

"A strong EU finning ban is a critical step forward in saving shark populations from looming extinction," said Suzanne Pleydell, Project AWARE Foundation Director. "Now we need to keep the pressure on to ensure all EU Member States agree to this proposal but in the meantime this is great milestone in EU shark conservation".

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), every year millions of sharks are finned worldwide. The current EU regulation, adopted in 2003, is too lenient to ensure that finning is not continuing undetected and unpunished. The proposal, if adopted by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, would ensure that all sharks taken by EU vessels or in EU waters are landed with their fins still naturally attached to their bodies. Scientists recommend this policy as the most reliable means of enforcing a finning ban.

Last month, as part of Project AWARE Big Shark Shout Out and European Shark Week tens of thousands of divers, shark enthusiasts, and concerned citizens not only in Europe but across the world called on EU Fisheries Ministers to help close loopholes in the finning ban and to fulfill the commitments of the EU Plan of Action for sharks.

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