Finning: cruel, wasteful practice, Pg2

Key Highlights:

• Shark finning, the practice of removing a shark's fins and discarding its body, is a cruel and wasteful practice.
• Illegal shark fins have been repeatedly landed in Dakar, Senegal, by Chinese and Taiwanese longline tuna vessels.
• The fins are primarily shipped to Asia for use in shark fin soup and traditional medicine.
• Global shark and ray populations have plummeted by 71% since 1970 due to industrial fishing.
• The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a London-based NGO, released a report detailing these illegal activities.

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Detailed Insights:

• Sharks often drown after being finned and thrown back into the ocean, highlighting the inhumane nature of the practice.
• Dakar, Senegal, is identified as one of Africa's busiest fishing ports, making it a significant hub for illegal finning operations.
• Shark finning is largely prohibited across various regulatory zones, countries, and international conventions.
• The practice is frequently linked to Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and associated human rights abuses.
• Senegal is a party to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which regulates fishing in the Atlantic Ocean.
• ICCAT regulations include a ban on retaining certain shark species and a rule that fins cannot exceed 5% of the overall weight of sharks onboard to prevent finning.
• A study published in the journal Nature confirmed the drastic decline in shark and ray populations over the past five decades.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Shark Finning: The practice of removing a shark's fins, often while the animal is alive, and discarding the rest of its body at sea.
• Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing: Fishing activities that violate national or international laws, are not reported to authorities, or are conducted by vessels without nationality.
• International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT): An intergovernmental organization responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas.