14 DAY TRIAL // Only recently, the EU has rolled out stricter regulations intended to protect the world's remaining shark population. Thus, the EU has officially banned all shark finning.
Shark finning refers to the practice of pulling these predators out of the water, cutting of their fins and then throwing them back into the sea.
Once stripped of their fins, the sharks can no longer swim. This means that it does not take long for them to die a slow and painful death.
Conservationists say that, ever since commercial fishing took off, many shark species have experienced a steep decline in their population.
What's more, some now risk going extinct.
Although a legal ban on shark finning was first instituted by the EU back in 2003, many fishing vessels managed to get around the prohibition by asking that they be given special permits that would allow them to legally strip sharks of their fins while still out at sea.
“Finning has technically been prohibited in the EU since 2003, but an exemption allowed Member States to issue special permits for fishing vessels to remove shark fins on board.”
“In particular, an exemption used by Spain and Portugal allowed some vessels to remove sharks’ fins at sea, which made it nearly impossible to detect and monitor the finning that was occurring,” green-oriented group Oceana explains, as cited by Tree Hugger.
Under the new rules and regulations, fishing vessels will no longer be able to get such permits and continue decimating shark populations unhindered.
“At long last, the EU has a real and enforceable ban on shark finning, with global implications,” Xavier Pastor, executive director of Oceana in Europe, said in a statement.
“The EU catches more sharks than any country in the world, and plays a key role in regional fisheries management organizations where finning remains an acknowledged problem. After ten years with a flawed ban in place, it can now make a serious effort to tackle the issue internationally,” he went on to argue.
Each year, 100 million sharks are killed by fishing ships worldwide. Specialists say that, for the time being, the EU is the world's largest shark fishing power.