Brussels, 31/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Last Thursday, the EP adopted (383 votes to 54 and 81 abstentions) a report by Elspeth Attwool (ELDR, UK) which amends, in the sense that it makes it more ambitious, the proposal to prohibit the discarding of shark bodies (often still alive) into the sea after the fins that are prized for the market have been cut off. The Commission 's proposal, which dates back to end 2002, provides for a ban to be placed on on-board storage of shark fins without the shark bodies, while, in some cases, allowing the entrails and sometimes the heads to be discarded at sea, on condition that the rest of the carcass is disembarked. As the proposal provides for exceptions (for ships whose capacity to use all shark parts is not certain and for which the need for differentiated processing on board of shark fins and other shark parts is duly justified), the Parliament hoped to introduce a system of traceability allowing for the parts belonging to each shark to be identified in order to avoid possible fraudulent practice. The EP also introduced proposals on the registration of shark catches, conserved or rejected. Thus, all ships should keep an on-board log of information concerning, for each species, the weight of the sharks kept on board, those transferred to other ships, disembarked or discarded. These provisions would be revised depending upon the updated data of catches and inspection reports. Furthermore, the EPP provides that the regulation be included in fishing agreements with third countries.
This is the first attempt at regulating shark fishing on a European scale. The export of shark fins by the EU has been considerable since 2000, and exports from the EU account for some 14.36% in weight of Hong Kong imports in shark fins. The increased catches has endangered several species of sharks.