Help End The Shark Fin Trade In Europe

     Believe it or not, the European Union is contributing to the cruel slaughter of millions of sharks around the world every year. While shark finning, the act of cutting the fins off of live sharks and throwing them in the water to drown (all for luxury soup with no nutritional value) has been banned in European waters, the trade in shark fins has not been.

 

     As long as this situation remains the same, the European Union (as well as the rest of Europe) will continue to be a problem for sharks, as well as their close relatives, skates and rays. Luckily, there is a way for the people of the world to make a direct impact. Stopfinning.eu, a nonprofit, has launched a citizen's initiative in which European Union residents can directly vote to ban the trade. It will not be easy: a million people need to vote and minimum thresholds need to be met from at least seven EU countries to force a debate and vote on the matter.

     However, progress is already being made. Just this month, France and Portugal hit their minimum thresholds, while Germany hit 75%, Hungary hit 50%, and Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands are on track to do the same. If you are from France or Portugal, signatures still count toward the million-vote requirement. If you are not from Europe, you can encourage European friends to vote. You can also donate: an advertising and outreach campaign to boost the voting rate still needs over 10,000 euros.

     If you are from the United Kingdom, you can still make a difference: in just six months, 115,000 UK residents signed a petition to ban the shark fin trade in the nation, and continuous pressure on MPs and other officials could make this a reality.