NOAA Directs Council to Stop Shark Finning Immediately

Bob Endreson bob at westpacfisheries.net
Fri Sep 24 18:28:45 EDT 1999


In a June 21, 1999 letter to the Chairman of the Western Pacific Council, Mr. Terry Garcia directs the Council to "take immediate action to ban the practice of shark finning".  In the letter, Mr. Garcia points out that the US has been a leading proponent of international shark conservation measures at the United Nations FAO meetings this year.  He goes on to say that "The US position during development of the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks was that the FAO should affirmatively address this issue, even to the extent of putting in place a global ban on shark finning".

Mr. Garcia's letter concludes by saying that "The Council should amend the Western Pacific Pelagic Fishery Management Plan to require full utilization of all sharks harvested in this fishery".

Now that both NMFS and NOAA has instructed the Council to act immediately to prohibit shark finning and implement measures for full utilization, since it's clearly a waste issue, we hope that the US Congress, the Hawaii Congressional delegation and the Governor of the State of Hawaii will all support the call for immediate action or ask the Secretary of Commerce to pre-empt the Council.  See pre-emption request at http://www.westpacfisheries.net/actionalert.html
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