Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. SABLAN. Madam Speaker, on Earth Day 2021, together with Rep. McCaul and 103 other original cosponsors, I am reintroducing the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.

The Act bans the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States and passed in the 116th Congress with bipartisan support and, ultimately, 287 cosponsors. It was the largest number of cosponsors for any ocean conservation bill in the previous Congress.

The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act has such strong bipartisan support, because it is an effective way to remove the United States from the devastating global trade in shark fins, at no cost. And because it does so without stopping those who want to fish for sharks and use them whole.

Madam Speaker, sharks are absolutely critical to life in the ocean. As apex predators, they help maintain balance by keeping prey populations in check. They are also critical to the tourism economy of our coastal communities. In Florida alone, tourists, who go diving to see sharks, generate more than 200 times the value of the trade in shark fins for our entire country.

Despite their importance ecologically and economically, sharks are in serious trouble. Each year, fins from up to 73 million sharks are sliced off and sold in the global marketplace. And, largely due to this demand for fins, some shark species have now declined by more than 90 percent.

Our nation has wisely banned the inhumane practice of finning sharks and throwing them back into the ocean to die. Yet, we still allow fins to be bought and sold here. And many of the fins we are buying and selling come from countries that simply do not have the same level of protection the U.S. gives sharks.

Now is time for us to take that next step. Only by banning the shark fin trade once and for all within our borders can we ensure we are no longer supporting an unsustainable use of ocean resources.

Recognizing this unsustainability, the Northern Mariana Islands, my home, was the very first U.S. insular area to ban the trade of shark fins in 2011. As an island culture 3,000 years old, the people of the Marianas understand and respect the important role that sharks play in maintaining the life of our oceans.

We are not alone. Thirteen U.S. states and three territories have also passed their own shark fin bans. But this patchwork of state laws can be challenging to enforce. That is why we need a federal ban on the shark fin trade in the United States.

A ban on the shark fin trade is supported by 45 domestic and international airlines, by 22 shipping companies, 15 major corporations, and nearly 700 U.S. businesses and organizations. A 2020 national poll found 4 of 5 American voters support a national ban on the buying and selling of shark fins. Hundreds of scientists, chefs, fishers, and dive and surf businesses have written to Congress requesting passage of a national shark fin ban.

I want, especially, to thank Oceana, the Humane Society Legislative Fund, and the Animal Welfare Institute for those environmental organizations' work to build legislative support for the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.

I look forward to quick action in the House on the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2021.

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