SHARK CONSERVATION ACT

 When President Obama gets back to DC, he has yet another piece of legislation to sign. The Shark Conservation Act. Although this bill passed unanimously in the House earlier this year, the Senate sat on it until the day they were leaving. 

Sponsored by Senator John Kerry, the law will extend protection to sharks off United States coastlines. Currently, fishermen could still hit the waters, hunt sharks for their fins and dump the bodies, leaving the shark to perish slowly by bleeding out as it swims away. 
Closing the loophole in prior legislation requires that for every fin, you must bring in a shark body.    

Environmentalists are pleased with the bill, which should give endangered shark species the chance to recover. 

According to StopSharkFinning.org, "Finning" is illegal on the Atlantic Coast and off the Gulf of Mexico but remains a practice on the Pacific Coast.  

You may ask why the shark's fin? Well it's the only part of a shark that has significant meat on it. Really, that species dating back to the Jurassic era, has little to offer meat wise elsewhere on it's body. With shark meat selling for $800/lb, fishermen just catch the shark, slice off the fin and let it go.


The practice has put several shark species on the brink of extinction.

Senator Kerry quoted in the science section of Redorbit.com said: “Shark finning has fueled massive population declines and irreversible disruption of our oceans. We finally came through with a tough approach to tackle this serious threat to our marine life."