Update (June 27, 2016): This bill passed the Senate by a vote of 32-7.
Bill Description:
This bill would, after Jan 1, 2017, prohibit the sale, offering for sale, trade, or distribution of any shark fin that has been separated from a shark prior to its lawful landing. It still allows, however, the removal and possession of shark fins from the body of a shark only if the shark has been lawfully-landed and the fins are removed during the ordinary course of preparing the shark’s body.
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Exemption: This bill does not apply to shark fins possessed, sold, traded, or distributed for scientific research or educational purposes.
Background:
Shark finning is a particularly cruel practice in which people cut the fins off live sharks and return their bodies to the water where the sharks inevitably die. The animals who are cast back into the ocean suffer slow, painful deaths by drowning or blood loss.
Shark finning does not threaten just a few sharks, but 73 million sharks every year worldwide. Many of these sharks are endangered species. Sharks reach maturity later in life than other fish and have small litters of offspring, making them highly susceptible to overfishing.
Shark fins are most commonly used in shark fin soup, an Asian dish that connotes wealth and status.
Take Action:
New Jersey residents, contact your state assembly member and urge him or her to support this legislation.
Read the full text of the Senate bill here and the Assembly bill here.