Al Jazeera English this week aired an investigative story on its “Fault Lines” program that suggests shark fins are still illegally coming into the US and shows shark fins being sold in the US, a year after the passage of legislation banning such sales.
The report primarily focuses on the illegal shark fin trade in Peru and how those fins are still making their way to US shores and centers around Evelyn Lamadrib, a Peruvian environmental prosecutor, who was responsible for the first criminal conviction in 2018.
Since the US Congress passed the 2022 Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, which includes a ban on the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States, there was a bust in Kentucky that the US government is currently pursuing.
That bust involves more than 176 lbs (80kg) of dried endangered scalloped hammerhead shark fins, 1,058 lbs (480kg) of dried silky shark fins and 187 lbs (85kg) of dried bull shark fins that were shipped through a UPS facility.
According to Oceana Campaign Director Gib Brogan:
“Laws only function when they’re enforced. The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act bans the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States, but the law must be enforced to address bad actors that continue to illegally traffic shark fins in the US.
“Oceana calls on the National Marine Fisheries Service to increase enforcement of the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act to the fullest extent possible. Changing the US law was a monumental first step in taking the country out of the $100 million [~€91 million] global shark fin trade, and now meaningful enforcement is needed immediately at the local, state and federal levels.”
Check out the Al Jazeera episode below.
