LANZAROTE, Spain (26 June 2005) -- Members of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) have been meeting this week in Lanzarote, Spain, to consider fishery management and conservation measures, including a ban on shark finning. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Recent increases in shark catches, as well as an expansion of the geographic areas fished, have led to global concern about the status of some shark populations. NOAA says international cooperation is critical, as many species of sharks are highly migratory, and regularly cross national boundaries throughout all oceans of the world. For many years, NOAA has led domestic and international efforts to ban shark finning. In 1993, the government agency prohibited U.S. vessels from shark finning in waters of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The United States proclaimed shark finning to be a wasteful practice in the Shark Finning Prohibition Act adopted by Congress in 2000. Shark finning is the practice of slicing the fin off the shark and discarding the carcass to save space on a fishing vessel. In 2002, the finning prohibition was extended to apply to all U.S. jurisdictions, including U.S. vessels fishing in Pacific waters. NOAA, which has workedwith the U.S. Department of State to encourage other countries to adopt similar conservation measures, says the IATTC has embraced the need to address this issue. The organization has been working for more than a year to consider proposals to end shark finning in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Most IATTC signatory nations have already expressed their agreement with the spirit of the proposals. An international ban in the Pacific is now considered by many to be ripe for approval, given that an international shark finning ban for the Atlantic Ocean was adopted in November 2004. | | Wanna get laid in 'look at my money' Hong Kong? Just feed her shark fin soup... In November, some 63 countries, including the United States, reached an agreement in New Orleans to ban shark finning in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea. This binding agreement was formally adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and is now being implemented by all member countries. The ICCAT agreement is on the table for consideration at the June meeting of the organization. The IATTC and ICCAT are both international commissions that are responsible for the conservation and management of migratory fish stocks, including sharks. The United States is a member of both commissions. The IATTC convention area is in the Eastern Pacific Ocean while the ICCAT convention area includes the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Gulf of Mexico. |
