Max Bello, South American representative of Pew's global shark campaign, has been working with members of the Chilean Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and commercial fishermen's associations for the last few months to begin to address shark finning in Chile. On March 1, 2011, Sen. Horvath, Orpis, Gomez, Sabag and Cantero introduced Senate bill 7489-03, The Use and Benefit of Sharks, to end the practice of shark finning and to mandate that all sharks that are landed in Chile be landed with their fins naturally attached.
On Wednesday April 6th, Max Bello and Matt Rand, Director of Pew's global shark campaign went to Valparaiso, Chile where the Chilean Congress is located, to advocate for the passage of the bill and to launch a photo exhibit in front of the senate chambers. Due to media outreach efforts the day before, the nation's most viewed daily newspaper “La Tercera” featured these efforts on the front page and did an extensive story on the global issue of shark declines and the Chilean legislation.
Just after lunch, Max and Matt gave a presentation to the Senate Fisheries Commission on the global status of sharks, Pew's efforts to stop the declines and details regarding the legislation. Members of the senate commission had a number of insightful questions for Max and Matt and indicated their full support for the bill. In fact, members of the Senate Commission were willing to increase the fines and imprisonment terms for those not complying with the law.
Directly following the Commission hearing, the two most important national TV news agencies as well as the Senate TV conducted interviews with Max, Matt and the Senate Fisheries Commission President. Both TV news stations aired extensive stories featuring Pew's campaign efforts. Following the interviews the shark photo exhibit was launched with many senators in attendance including the President of the Senate and the Senate Fisheries Commission president.