Comment Period re: Shark Finning extended to July 8th – Please comment! NOAA is proposing to pre-empt state laws against shark finning for the purposes of commercial and sport fishing by ‘interpretation’ of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. (At the same time Congress is asking to boost sales of the more abundant Spiny Dogfish – which is a shark.) Even one sentence will help! Here are comments you may want to make that address issues in the proposed ruling: - Please issue rules to implement the provisions of the Shark Conservation Act (SCA) without undermining state & territory laws that ban trade in shark fins. -Please include language that gives sharks more protection against over-fishing, trawl-fishing, long-line fishing,and sport –fishing -Federal Law should not pre-empt State Law, particularly if stricter State Laws protect sharks. - Please include language in the ruling to ban the sale of shark fins to address the unregualted international finning of sharks in waters outside of state control. • Several shark species are destined for extinction unless finning and trade in fins end. This can be achieved by passing laws that require sharks to be landed whole AND by banning trade in fins. The SCA achieves the former, and local bans achieve the latter. • State and territorial shark fin trade bans do not conflict with the Magnuson-Stevens Act because they do not prohibit or limit fishing in federal waters. They merely place a ban on selling, trading, or possessing fins within the borders of the states and territories that have enacted such laws. • The SCA should work in concert with state and territorial laws. When combined with these laws, the SCA takes shark conservation a huge step forward by requiring that sharks be landed with fins naturally attached. Conversely, undermining the existing bans on shark fin trade in 10 states and territories would be a step backward from the progress that has been made for shark conservation. - The world’s shark population is experiencing significant decline with perhaps 100 million or more sharks being lost every year, according to a study published in Marine Policy. -Decliining shark populations is of global concern as the loss of sharks causes cascading changes in the ecosystem, that trickle all the way down to marine plants. Such changes can harm other species, and may negatively affect commercial fisheries, according to research. - Shark deaths were estimated at 100 million in 2000 and 97 million in 2010. The total possible range of mortality is between 63 and 273 million annually. The biggest culprit in the significant population decline is a combination of a global boom in shark fishing — usually for their valuable fins — and the relatively slow growth and reproductive rates of sharks. regulations.gov/#%21submitComment;D=NOAA-NMFS-2012-0092-0031
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 04:32:14 +0000
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