Tag Archives: shark finning

Captain of Spanish Longliner Charged with Shark Finning

The captain of a Spanish-flagged fishing vessel has been charged with shark finning after Irish Naval Service personnel boarded his vessel and found more than one tonne of fins on board.  After a tip-off from Ireland’s Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), the patrol vessel William Butler Yeats intercepted and boarded the longliner Virxen de Blanca off the southwestern tip of Ireland. The Yeats escorted the de Blanca to port at Castletownbere, Cork, where she was transferred to the custody of the SFPA and the Garda Siochana. >click to read<17:26

11 shark fins, dismembered sharks found aboard boat near South Sound Creek

The U.S. Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission personnel seized 11 shark fins and dismembered sharks Monday that were found aboard a 40-foot commercial fishing boat near South Sound Creek, Coast Guard officials announced Tuesday in a news release.  Authorities said an FWC officer first spotted the boat, dubbed Miss Shell, off South Sound Creek because of its improper display of navigation lights.  Authorities said they found 11 shark fins and dismembered sharks aboard the boat. The boat was then escorted to Port Largo. The catch was seized and handed over to NOAA officials Tuesday. >click to read<16:15

H.R. 1456 and S. 793 – Congressman Walter B. Jones Weighs in for North Carolina Fishermen

Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) is moving to help Eastern North Carolina fishermen who could be hurt by legislation pending before Congress.  The bills threaten America’s domestic shark fisheries, and a significant piece of those fisheries is in Eastern North Carolina.  They are sustainably managed and help support the economy in coastal North Carolina and other small fishing communities around the country. The bills – H.R. 1456 and S. 793 – purport to be an attempt to stop the practice of shark finning (i.e. the process of removing fins at sea and discarding the shark).  They seek to do so by banning the sale of fins, even those harvested legally here in the United States. click here to read the press release 14:53

NOAA gave bad data to Senator trying to stop shark finning

A federal agency said on Thursday that it made a mistake with a key piece of data it gave to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker as he was building a case to shut down America’s shark fin trade. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, has cited more than 500 incidents involving complaints of shark finning in the U.S., dating back to January 2010, as cause to support shutting down the trade. But the number is actually 85.,,, An NOAA worker’s error involving a new case management system caused the mistake in the number of finning incident reports, said Casey Brennan, chief of staff for the NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. He said the number of reports that led to charges was 26. click here to read the story 18:31

Lauren Reid: The Truth About Tuna – Sailing to the Front Line of Pacific Tuna Fisheries

With recent stories of overfishing, shark finning, and human rights abuses (one New York Times reporter stated that being a fisherman in some parts of the Pacific Ocean “was a job where more than 50 percent of workers report their boss killing a co-worker”), I can’t help but feel extremely moved and heartbroken if these are true. The best way for me to comprehend how our canned tuna actually gets from sea to plate is to head to the source itself. Read  Sailing to the Front Line of Pacific Tuna Fisheries – part one, Out on the High Seas – part twoHard Life Aboard – part three, Reflections on Commercial Fishing – part four.09:35

US Fishermen that land Sharks in some states will be penalized by ignorant politicians

Shark finning, a deplorable practice, is becoming the rally cry for some ignorant politicians to remove the ability of US fishermen to fill a niche market that is being dismantled simply because they cannot tell the difference between legal and illegal fishery issues. These state enacted bans are another assault on fishermen that play by the rules. Are they to just throw the legally landed shark products into the landfill, wasting condemned portions? Read  Massachusetts to ban shark fin trade 09:07

Shark Fin Controversy – The Pew Nuts are Cracked!

NOAA is attempting to strengthen an existing federal law against shark finning. While it would be easy to assume that advocates for the protection of sharks would be greeting these measures warmly, the reality is anything but. Pew, an advocacy group based out of D.C., has been a vocal proponent of ending shark finning,, Read more dogma here 17:13