Bill passes to ban shark finning and feeding
GUAM
Wednesday, March 02, 2011, 03:thirty (GMT + 9)
A bill prohibiting both the finning and feeding of sharks not too long ago handed unanimously in the 31 Guam Legislature. The bill would ban the possession, marketing, trading or distribution of shark fins and ray components on Guam.
Bill 44 was launched by Vice Speaker BJ Cruz and co-sponsored by Senator Rory Respicio. The law is akin to Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallos freshly passed federal legislation.
The Pew Setting Group has congratulated Guam and other Pacific Island nations for their measures to defend sharks.
"More and more, we see the islands of the Pacific stand tall from business fishing fleets that are depleting shark populations," mentioned Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Setting Group.
"Pacific island leadership is assisting these fish, threatened by the fin trade, to retain their location as apex predators in the ocean foods chain. Guam, a significant fishing hub, now joins other Pacific Ocean voices in help of shark conservation," he continued.
In January, US President Barack Obama signed HR 81, the Shark Conservation Act of 2010, which prohibits finning at sea and the possession, transfer or landing of fins not by natural means connected to the sharks carcass.
Pew mentioned that as a lot of as 73 million sharks are killed annually primarily for their fins, which are utilised in what is deemed an Asian delicacy: shark fin soup. More, 30 per cent of shark species are threatened or in the vicinity of-threatened with extinction.
Some members of Guams fishing neighborhood argued that feeding sharks could endanger fishers and effectively pushed for a prohibition the apply as an amendment to Bill 44.
In addition, the bill permits regional law enforcement to apply the federal statute by making it illegal to possess, promote, offer for sale, consider, buy, barter, transport, export, import, trade or distribute imported shark fins and ray areas, reviews Marianas Assortment.
The bill also gives eating places possessing imported shark fins 180 days to deplete their stock.
The law tends to make possession of shark fins and ray areas a felony but gives exemptions for people possessing shark fins or ray areas for "subsistence and standard and cultural" good reasons.
Furthermore, the Pacific island nation of Palau in September 2009 declared its waters a shark sanctuary by banning the commercial fishing of sharks. And early very last year, the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, and Honduras also manufactured equivalent moves.
By Natalia Actual
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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