The United States Is On Track To Ban The Shark Fin Trade This Year

 

     Please note that this paragraph serves only to provide context and not to delve into any social or political issues related to the United States and China. In May 2021, the United States combined dozens of bipartisan bills into a comprehensive legislative package called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which aims to compete with China by codifying Made-in-America laws, bolstering cybersecurity, further sanctioning alleged human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang, and more.

     This law also aims to compete with China in terms of environmental protections. China and Hong Kong are, by far, the biggest consumers of shark fin soup and other products derived from the endangered elasmobranches. The United States, more likely on the grounds of punishing China than any concern for the sharks, it should be considered, included a ban on the import and export of shark fins in the United States in the USICA. 15 states have already banned it, shark finning in U.S. waters was banned in 2000, and loopholes in fisheries laws were closed in 2010. However, the trade in millions of sharks continues in the United States, most notably in Atlanta, Georgia.

     The law passed the U.S. Senate in June 2021. It will most likely be amended in the U.S. House before it is passed, where it will then be sent back to the Senate for consent, sent to President Biden, and signed into law. However, once the negotiations are done, the actual legislative process is relatively quick. The president is expected to sign this law, having declared his intent to move America's military presence from the Middle East and instead focus on indirect competition with China and Russia. All told, the United States is set to ban the shark fin trade by the end of the year.

     However, now is not the time to give up. A shark fin ban was introduced in Congress in 2019 and never taken up; another ban was included in the December 2020 COVID stimulus bill but was taken out by Florida Senator Marco Rubio (Florida has since banned the trade at the state level but was once the biggest hub for shark fins in the United States). If you live in the United States, please contact your representative and your senators and urge them to support this bill's proposed shark fin ban.

     In 2019, Canada became the first G7 nation to ban the trade in shark fins. In 2021, the United States has a chance to become the second!!!