POST FROM THE PAST - California Law Banning the Possession and Sale of Shark Fins Upheld By U.S. Supreme Court (5/25/16)

Two Federal laws (passed in 2000 and strengthened in 2010) made removal of shark fins illegal, but did not ban the possession and sale of the fins.  Every year millions of sharks are killed only for their fins.  The remainder of the shark is dumped back into the ocean to die.  A 2013 California law made possession and sale of shark fins illegal.  A group including restaurant owners, shark fin suppliers and Chinese American community organizations filed suit against the state.  Monday the United State Supreme Court upheld the California law.

California’s ban on the possession and sale of shark fins survived a legal challenge Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Bay Area suppliers and sellers of shark fin soup, a traditional dish in the Chinese American community.

Federal law prohibits shark “finning,” the removal of fins from sharks, but does not forbid possessing or selling shark fins. California lawmakers went a step further with a statute that took effect in July 2013 and had the impact of removing shark fin soup from restaurant menus.

What cultural relevance is gained by driving a species to extinction?

Many species of sharks are currently in danger due to shark finning, including the scalloped hammerhead, which is endangered, and the smooth hammerhead, which is vulnerable according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Between 1.3 and 2.7 million of just these two sharks are killed every year in the shark fin trade, and the northwestern Atlantic population of the scalloped hammerhead declined from around 155,500 in 1981 to 26,500 in 2005. Today, some shark populations have decreased by 60-70% due to human shark fisheries.

For more information on the impact of the war on sharks read this report.

August 28, 2016

Here is an update on the law and more details on additional actions to save the world's sharks.