Shark Fin Free Calgary

Brunei becomes the 1st country to fully ban shark trade.

Under the impulse of His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah (the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam), the minister in charge of fisheries announced yesterday during the ‘Celebrate the Sea Festival’ in-conjunction with the Worlds Oceans Day 2013, that it will now enforce the ban on the catch and landings of all shark species from Brunei’s waters and thus cease the sale of any related products in the domestic market.

The importation and trade of shark products have been banned in august 2012, and will also be enforced.

Air New Zealand has become the latest airline to stop flying shipments of shark’s fin to Hong Kong, the shark’s fin capital of the world.

Delaware became the seventh state to prohibit the sale, trade, possession and distribution of shark fins within state borders. By signing House Bill 41, Gov. Jack Markell not only made Delaware the second East Coast state to ban the shark fin trade, but he sent the message that sharks are worth more in the oceans than in a bowl of shark fin soup.

The government of the Pacific paradise of New Caledonia said Wednesday it had decided to ban fishing of sharks, which are being decimated to feed growing demand for luxury goods.

The New York state Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to outlaw the shark fin trade. The bill now heads to the Assembly, which passed the same measure last year, only to have it die in the Senate without a vote. “We are 100% confident the Assembly will pass this,” Patrick Kwan, director of grassroots organizing for The Humane Society of the United States, told the Daily News.

The House resumed debate on the second reading of Private Member’s Bill C-380, an Act to amend the Fish Inspection Act and the Fisheries Act (importation of shark fins). The bill was introduced by Mr. Fin Donnelly (New Westminster—Coquitlam, NDP) on December 8th, 2011. Bill C-380 was narrowly defeated by a majority vote of 143 to 138 on Wednesday.

This week is marked by a historic conservation milestone for sharks and rays globally. At this year’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties meeting in Bangkok, countries agreed to increase protection for five commercially-exploited species of sharks and manta rays. CITES member nations, referred to as “Parties”, voted in support of listing the oceanic whitetip shark, three species of hammerhead sharks (scalloped, smooth, and great), the porbeagle shark and manta rays in CITES Appendix II – an action that means increased protection, but still allows legal and sustainable trade.

City council did not vote Thursday on whether to appeal a judge’s November ruling that overturned council’s sweeping ban on the sale, possession or consumption of shark fin products. Instead, council voted 39-3 to ask the city manager to report back in June on any “adverse consequences” on Torontonians from the “depletion of any oceanic species used as food sources,” including sharks.

Cambridge City Council has unanimously voted to condemn the sale of Shark Fin products with the City. They become the first UK city to do this.

Indonesia has announced a new shark and manta ray sanctuary, the first to protect the species in the rich marine ecosystem of the Coral Triangle, known as the “Amazon of the ocean”. Environmentalists welcomed the creation of the 46,000-square-kilometre (18,000-square-mile) protection zone, in an area at risk from both overfishing and climate change.