In a blog for the Huffington Post, Matt Rand highlights the progress that has been made this year to protect sharks.
After a long battle, early this year President Obama signed the Shark Conservation Act into law. This legislation closes loopholes in existing shark conservation law, and directs the U.S. to lead shark conservation efforts internationally.
In one example of loophole exploitation under previous shark finning policy, a transport vessel loaded with 32 tons of dried fins, estimated to represent some 30,000 sharks, was found innocent of any wrongdoing. Thanks to these amendments, the U.S. shark finning law will now thwart finning operations like this one.
The law also requires sharks to be brought into port with their fins naturally attached. This will decrease a vessel's capacity to kill sharks and will, we hope, lessen the egregious waste associated with dumping a shark overboard, unused.
Watch our new video below, in which I discuss the Shark Conservation Act and what it means for sharks -- at least in the U.S.
:::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRdz2Bl7mas:::