On Thursday 11 May, a large number of MEPs in Strasbourg supported the aims of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to end the shark fin trade in Europe.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner for Fisheries, said that the European Commission would respond to this ECI in July. He wants to “thoroughly” analyse the economic, social and environmental “ins and outs”, as well as the trade, the customs figures and the controls on finning.
He acknowledged that European legislation was very advanced and that Asian countries were the main market for these shark fins. The EU represents 15% of this market, “so we have to take responsibility”, he said (see EUROPE 13150/11).
Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Dutch) said the ECI should be taken seriously, but that the fishing industry “tries to deny the facts”.
Asger Christensen (Renew Europe, Danish), on behalf of the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries, noted that finning on board vessels is already banned in the EU, while in other parts of the world fins continue to be cut off and the body of the shark thrown back into the sea. He argued that the shark fin trade should be banned.
The Spanish are unhappy. Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spanish), Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (Renew Europe, Spanish) and Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spanish), among others, opposed the end of the shark fin trade, arguing that the European fishery is highly regulated (certificates) and accounts for a tiny part of the global fin trade. Mr Mato said that this fishery should not be banned, as this would penalise European fishermen while China continues its finning practices. Mrs Bilbao said that the European fleet was not finning, as the sharks are landed whole in port.
Illegal trade. Other MEPs were in favour of the ECI’s objectives, including Predrag Fred Matić (S&D, Croatian) and Caroline Roose (Greens/EFA, French). Finning has been banned in the EU since 2013. “Yet the EU remains one of the world’s leading shark fin exporters”, Roose said. This ban is necessary, in her view. The fact that there is still a legal trade in shark fins makes it easier to launder illegal fins, those from finning or those from protected species, Mrs Roose argued.
Annika Bruna (ID, French) also called for such a ban, as did Anja Hazekamp (The Left, Dutch), who was outraged by the slaughter of more than 100 million sharks a year to feed the Asian market for fins. Several MEPs advised that the end of the ivory trade, which has led to better protection for elephants, should be used as a model for tackling shark finning. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)