Ocean Sentry
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House took steps Tuesday to keep shark fins out of soups served in pricey Asian restaurants.
In a voice vote, the House tightened a 2000 law that bans the practice of shark finning, whereby mainly Pacific Ocean fishermen cut off a shark”s fin and throw the dying fish back into the sea. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in some Asian countries.
The bill on sharks, whose populations are declining worldwide, prohibits vessels from having custody, control or possession of shark fins without the carcass. It closes a loophole in the 2000 act under which vessels were sailing into international waters to purchase shark fins from fishermen engaged in finning and then bringing them back into U.S. waters.
