Last week Toronto became one of the world’s first cities to openly ban the sale and possession of shark-fin.
This is a step towards more stringent shark conservation regulation. The motion was carried by 38 votes to four in the city council, following sustained pressure from conservation groups including United Conservationists.
Rob Stewart, the director behind Sharkwater, a film which helped increase awareness about finning, gave evidence to the council. Stewart persuaded them of the harms caused by the finning industry not only within Canadian waters, but also worldwide.
Stewart commented that the legal change took place “because of people getting involved”, shown by the massive public support for the Fin Free Toronto campaign. The movement, established by Stewart, has now received global support and has promoted new Fin Free chapters in other cities, such as Ottawa.
Despite recent news that the Marshall Islands have founded the world’s largest shark sanctuary, shark finning is still prevalent throughout the world. Island nations such as Palau and and Honduras were the first to take the conservation of the ocean predators seriously, however members of the European Union still supply around a third of China’s demand for shark fin, used in cooking and medicine.
The finning industry was responsible for the death of more than 73 million sharks in 2006 alone. As recently as last week, in the seas off Colombia, two thousand sharks were caught and had their fins removed. The fishermen jettisoned the unwanted shark torsos, which are deemed unsaleable, into the sea.
Data collection has become more difficult in recent years as governmental loopholes and corruption have allowed the landing of more fins removed from sharks at sea.
The Toronto law will come into effect in the city in September next year, allowing a period of acclimatisation for communities that consume much of this commodity. Stewart, who is also a key member of United Conservationists, believes that this marks the beginning of more stringent regulation taken up by Western nations, who must now adopt “the most aggressive stance” to protect the ocean’s top predator.
Image courtesy of Sharkwater.