In a letter to Martin Schultz, MEP and President of the European Parliament; the American Elasmobranch Society added their support to the European Commission’s proposal to strengthen the EU ban on shark finning by prohibiting all removal of shark fins on-board fishing vessels.
Robert Calcagno, Directeur général de l’Institut océanographique de Monaco from Shark Alliance on Vimeo.
“Si les requins venaient à disparaître, l’équilibre des océans en serait gravement affecté. Or, la bonne santé de nos océans est indispensable à l’avenir de l’Humanité. Protégeons-nous, protégeons les requins !”
“To maintain the balance of the marine environment, we need to strive towards sustainable management supporting Fins Naturally Attached is a crucial step to achieve this goal.”
“Keeping the fins attached to the animal also greatly enhances opportunities for observers and scientists to collect species-specific data on shark catches. Such information is vital to shark population assessment and management.”
Enric Sala, Ph.D., Explorer in Residence, National Geographic Society, letter to the European Commission, February 2011.
“Landing sharks with naturally-attached fins is not only the best way to ensure effective enforcement of the finning ban but also improves species-specific data collection, critical for population assessment and effective management of sharks.”
“Sharks are being overfished around the world. At the present time, when we all know that they are highly threatened, it is illogical to permit fishing practices that increases their risk of extinction. And finning is maybe the perfect example of how man wastes the resources. Then, the EU should implement “fins naturally attached” policy as a basic step towards sustainable fisheries of sharks.”
The ZSL Marine and Freshwater staff support the vote for fins naturally attached legislation.
“Massacrer les requins pour faire un potage de leurs ailerons est aussi stupide que de préparer une soupe à base de rognures d’ongles. Gandhi avait raison en indiquant que l’on reconnaissait la grandeur d’une nation à la manière dont les animaux y étaient traités.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), founded in 1948, is the largest professional global conservation network with more than 200 government and 900 non-government member organizations. Continue Reading →
“After decades of abusive and unsustainable fishing of sharks globally, it is simply unthinkable that an institution such as the European Union could abstain from implementing with extreme urgency the most basic of measures such as the one which will be voted on 19 September this year. As an European citizen I would be ashamed of anything short of full acceptance of the rule of landing sharks with fins attached, given that I would greatly prefer that sharks were not fished at all. Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara”
