Shark finning /\

Update:
Shark finning ban can’t cut corners!!!
New Zealand Shark Alliance welcomes the government‘s proposal to bring forward the ban on all shark finning by two years but calls for the policy to be based on international best practice. “The sooner we can end shark finning the better but it needs to be a ban that actually works and stops this abhorrent practice. The devil will be in the detail and any policy needs to be based on international best practice, said New Zealand Shark Alliance spokesperson Milena Palka.
The government announced today that it would bring forward the ban on all sharks from 2016 to 2014. “Any ban will only be effective if it is based on a fins naturally attached policy. This is the best way to ensure that sharks aren’t killed just for their fins as it requires sharks to be brought back to shore in one
piece,” added Ms Palka, from WWF. “This is the most effective way to make sure fishers comply with the finning ban.” Forest & Bird Marine Conservation Advocate Katrina Goddard said: “It is great that the government is moving on shark finning but any policy can’t cut corners. Let’s do this once and let’s do this right.”

Phil Crawford
nzsharkalliance.org.nz
May 2014

NZ must ban shark finning
The New Zealand Shark Alliance is stepping up its campaign to ban shark finning in New Zealand.  Just as the government prepares to review the laws on shark fishing and conservation the NZSA is urging Kiwis to support a ban on shark finning, a practice which, it says, is a senseless waste and is responsible for killing too many sharks.  NZSA spokesperson Karli Thomas, from Greenpeace, says every year around 100 million sharks are killed around the world, many just for their fins. That’s around 270,000 every day.

Image David Vogt

“Shark finning is unsustainable and globally the practice is threatening the survival of many species of shark,” she says.  “Most Kiwis have no idea this is happening off our own coastline on Kiwi fishing boats, but would be appalled by the senseless waste of killing sharks just for their fins then dumping their bodies back in the ocean."

Almost 100 countries and states around the world (including Australia, the EU and US) have banned shark finning, but it is still legal in New Zealand.  Shark finning is allowed under the "National Plan of Action - Sharks" a document that was written in 2008 and makes only a nod towards shark protection by requiring that sharks be killed before their fins are hacked off and their bodies dumped back into the sea. 

“New Zealand is woefully behind the times when it comes to shark conservation, and if the Government does not take this year’s opportunity to ban shark finning they can forget “100% pure”.  Killing sharks just for a bowl of soup and using only 5% of the animal is no one’s idea of a sustainable fishery.”




Thomas says there are signs the tide is turning here. A few months ago, following a campaign calling on airlines to opt out of the shark fin trade, Air New Zealand announced it would no longer transport sharks aboard its planes - something it admits it had done in the past. She says the Government’s upcoming review is the perfect time to ban what’s happening at sea.A recent international report revealed New Zealand as being in the top ten countries for killing and exporting sharks. Many of those sharks are killed for their fins alone, and New Zealand is a major exporter of shark fins to Hong Kong and the biggest exporter of dried fins to the USA. The three main species of sharks finned in New Zealand - blue sharks, porbeagle sharks and short-finned mako sharks - are all listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. 

“This is our chance to get shark finning banned once and for all in New Zealand waters. This opportunity only happens twice a decade, so we can't afford to let this chance pass us by.”

NZSA is promoting its campaign throughout the country. To show your support for a ban on shark finning in New Zealand waters go to www.nzsharkalliance.org.nz  The New Zealand Shark Alliance is a group of organisations and scientists working together to ban shark finning in our waters and to protect our sharks.

Phil Crawford
nzsharkalliance.org.nz
September 2013