Update Nov. 24, 2009: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has reported favorably or passed S.B. 250, a bill to strengthen the ban on cruel shark finning and provide other protections for sharks.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The bill, S.B. 250/H.R. 81, has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Find your U.S. senators here.

Write (faxes are best) or call and urge committee members and your senators to vote yes on S.B. 250/H.R. 81 to stop the cruelty of shark finning.

Update Nov. 16, 2009: Animal Law Coalition along with a number of other organizations including Pew Environment Group, have submitted a letter calling on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to pass S. 850, a bill to strengthen the ban on cruel shark finning and provide other protections for sharks.

A copy of the letter is attached and can be downloaded at the end of this article. The Committee will hold a hearing on this bill, S. 850, this Thursday, November 19. For more about this and how you can help pass this important legislation, read Animal Law Coalition's original report below.  

Original report: Shark finning is the brutally cruel practice of cutting off sharks' fins while they are alive and throwing them back in the water. The perpetrators don't bother to kill the animals even then, instead tossing the sharks back into the water, usually alive.

Shark fins are consumed typically in shark fin soup, a delicacy in China and other Asian countries. 

Congress banned this practice in 2000 under the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, 18 U.S.C§1857(1)(P) But the law allows fins to be removed from sharks at sea as long as the fishermen held onto the carcasses as well. Violations are determined by the 5% rule: The fins found on a fishing vessel or upon landing can weigh no more than 5% of the total weight of the carcasses of the sharks on board. 50 CFR 600.1203

Also, fins can still be transported on a different vessel without the carcass. This means there is no way to stop the transport of illegally obtained fins as long as they are not taken from the shark on the same ship as the transport.

The law applies to all U.S. registered vessels and foreign ships operating in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 50 CFR 600.1204, 50 CFR 635.30, .71   In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency charged with administering this law, has required fins remain naturally attached to sharks at all U.S. fisheries in Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

The 2000 law also sought to encourage agreements and treaties with other countries to stop shark finning internationally and promote the study and conservation of sharks.

To strengthen the protections for sharks, Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) have introduced the Shark Conservation Act of 2009, S.B. 850.  The House version, H.R. 81, has already passed the House of Representatives.

Under S.B. 250/H.R. 81, it would be illegal to remove the fin from a shark at sea or to control, possess, transfer or land  shark fins that are not naturally attached to the shark. Under this bill the 5% rule would apply to ships or other transporters to which fins are transferred for transport. In other words, if fins not naturally attached to a shark are found on a vessel other than a fishing ship, there is a rebuttable presumption of illegal finning if they weigh more than 5% of the total weight of carcasses of sharks on board.

The bill would also require reporting on countries that allow finning or have not taken established programs for shark conservation.