Final Fin

Between restrictions on tuna fishing and now shark finning, Japanese cuisine must really be suffering.

The House of Representatives refined a prior bill which prohibits shark finning, when fishermen sever a shark’s fin and return the remainder of the shark to the sea. This improved bill bans "vessels from having custody, control, or possession of shark fins without the carcass." The bill clarifies that aboard fishing and other vessels at a U.S. port, shark fins must be naturally connected to the body.

Shark finning is driven by the profitability of shark fin soup, a delicacy in many Asian countries, yet it contributes to the massive decline in the shark population, a steep drop of approximately 80 percent since the 1970’s.

This bill will now go to the Senate.