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Every year, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed around the world—just so that their fins can end up in a bowl of soup.
In the shark finning industry, fishers catch sharks in nets, hack off their fins, and throw the still-living animals back into the ocean to die. Frantically struggling but unable to swim, the sharks sink to the ocean floor and are often eaten alive.
© iStockPhoto.com/cdascherCanadian MP Fin Donnelly has introduced a bill to end the international trade of shark fins in Canada. If passed, bill C-380 would make the import of shark fins—or any attempt to import them—illegal. The House of Commons will vote on this much-needed bill this February.
Although shark finning is illegal in Canadian waters and there are already laws in place that forbid the trading of endangered species products like tiger bones, Asiatic black bear and sun bear bile, and rhino horns, there is no law preventing the sale of shark fins. Now is the time for that to change.
If you’re a Canadian citizen, please urge your Member of Parliament to support C-380, which would enact a nationwide ban on the import of shark fins.
Please send a polite e-mail to your Member of Parliament (find your member’s e-mail address here) and check out the below for suggested text:
I’m writing to urge you to support MP Fin Donnelly’s bill, which is calling for a nationwide ban on the import of shark fins. Every year, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed in the shark finning industry, in which the fins of sharks are hacked off and the still-living animals are thrown back into the ocean to die. As a result of overfishing, 95 percent of many species’ populations have been killed since the 1970s—pushing sharks closer and closer to extinction.
Although shark finning is illegal in Canadian waters and there are laws already in place forbidding the import of such endangered species products as tiger bones, Asiatic black bear and sun bear bile, and rhino horns, there is no law preventing the import of shark fins. Now is the time to add shark fins to the ban.
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90 days ago
0
I’m not canadian but i looked up the postal codes and emailed anyway just google it!
94 days ago
0
Has it been passed yet? It IS March now.
105 days ago
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I’m not Canadian, (though often I wish I was) and this is disgusting! They need to make this bill happen!
111 days ago
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Thought you guys would like to read what the response I received was. Following is my e-mail and then the response.
Dear Mr.Colin Carrie,
I am writing you to urge you to support MP Fin Donnelly’s bill, which is calling for a nationwide ban on the import of shark fins.
Mr.Finn Donnelly says, his bill “seeks to address a conservation crisis that is happening in oceans around the world. Right now, we are witnessing the rapid decline of sharks due to the demand for their fins. Up to 73 million sharks are being killed each year, primarily for their fins. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, over one-third of all shark species are currently threatened with extinction.” I wish everyone could see the horror of how sharks are finned… Most of the sharks are finned and then thrown back into the water to ultimately die because they cannot move anywhere, therefore leaving them hopeless and immobile, an invitation for hungry animals underwater. Sharks, although many scared of them, play a huge role in our ecosystems. All living things do. If we don’t stop soon, our sharks will be endangered, and then may become extinct.
So, again, I am urging you to support bill C-380 in order to stop the terrible things happening to these poor creatures.
Haleigh Quesnelle
Dear Haleigh,
Thank you for your correspondence regarding shark finning.
I understand your concerns regarding this practice. Canada banned the practice of shark finning, the act of removing the fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the carcass, in Canadian waters in 1994. Our Government promotes the full use of sharks harvested by Canadians and supports our country’s shark fisheries.
Products derived from endangered shark species covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are subject to controls in imports, which are administered and enforced by the Canada Border Services Agency. Canada, therefore, only bans or restricts the trade, possession, or sale of shark products from species which are protected under either CITEs or the Species at Risk Act (SARA), or which present human health or food safety concerns.
Our Government believes that working through regional fisheries management organizations to ensure strong management and enforcement practices globally is the most effective way to prevent unsustainable shark fishing practices, such as finning. We call on all shark fishing nations to implement effective national plans of action to conserve and manage sharks in line with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s International Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks.
If a product such as shark fins is derived from a legal and sustainable harvest, the Government sees no conservation basis to restrict its trade.
Once again, thank you for your correspondence regarding this important issue. If you have any further concerns please feel free to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Dr. Colin Carrie, M.P. – Oshawa
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health
113 days ago
0
The Canadian government also allows the slaughter of baby seals each year. They are helpless to do anything. Look into their eyes and it breaks your heart to know that someone wants to wear them. People need to be educated about what really happens to the sharks who have their fins cut off for soup. Take the money out of the equation and things will change.
118 days ago
0
Canadian and ready to make a change not just in my current country but around the globe.
119 days ago
0
Fin Soup?
Who would eat that -_-
131 days ago
0
134 days ago
2
I am a Canadian ctizen and i send my email today!
135 days ago
1
This is terrible.
136 days ago
4
I’m not a Canadian citizen.. ):