Ban the shark fin trade in Canada and increase protective measures for sharks

% Green:
96.40
% Yellow:
2.70
% Red:
0.90
Voting Detail:
Plenary
% Ratified:
0.00

Party Commentary

This policy is consistent with Green Party policies on Oceans and Fisheries, as well as on Animal Welfare. This is some overlap with policies on Animal Welfare, specifically policy G08_p105 which states that the party will prohibit any industries involving single organ trade. However, this policy is much more detailed than that reference in existing policy G08_p105.

Preamble

WHEREAS the continuing high trade volume for shark fins, large unreported catches and discards, and excessive exploitation rates have resulted in an alarmingly elevated risk of extinction for sharks and their relatives (rays and chimaeras) and they now have the lowest percentage of species considered safe – with only 23% categorized as Least Concern (IUCN); global shark mortality must be drastically reduced in order to avoid further depletion and the possible extinction of sharks and to restore marine ecosystems with functional top predators,

AND WHEREAS over 80 countries have implemented some form of shark finning ban, there is currently no reduction in the volume of fins traded and little reduction in global catches, demonstrating that fin trade bans and/or total bans on shark fishing must be widely implemented,

AND WHEREAS there are few limits and virtually no rules to control the high\ frequency of shark finning on the high seas, where more than half of the shark species caught are threatened or near threatened with extinction, and shark finning still occurs in many countries with finning bans, which also means that importation from countries with bans does not guarantee that fins have been humanely harvested,

AND WHEREAS in Canada, it is legal to sell and purchase shark products, including shark fins, and, in 2012, 76% of samples from shark fins sold in Metro Vancouver originated from threatened species, demonstrating that Canada is importing fins from endangered and threatened species and not enforcing relevant import restrictions,

AND WHEREAS Canada’s shark finning ban utilizes the fin-to-carcass ratio: “total landings are weighed separately to ensure that fins do not exceed 5% of the overall landings (dressed weight)” (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2012), which allows for practices such as highgrading (mixing carcasses and fins from different species), or retaining more fins for every carcass onboard, and still allows for sharks to be definned at sea while they are alive,

AND WHEREAS very few of Canada’s shark species are part of a commercial shark fishery, but the taking of numerous shark species as bycatch is permitted in a number of fisheries, which results in many species being discarded at sea and therefore limited species-specific reporting and monitoring of catches landings and the trade of sharks,

AND WHEREAS FAO’s ( Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks encourages the full use of dead sharks, i.e. the consumption of shark meats and various uses for other shark parts, e.g. skin, teeth and cartilage; discarding shark bodies is extremely wasteful - the meat of many shark species, such as short fin mako, thresher and porbeagle, are commonly used for food,

AND WHEREAS to completely address the problem of shark mortality, measures to reduce catch and ensure sustainability for all shark fisheries must also be put in place and, since localized bans on shark finning can often displace the problem into less regulated areas, there is also need for strong international agreement on the protection of sharks,

Operative

BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada will work to prohibit the import, export, and domestic sale of shark fins in Canada and will amend the Fish Inspection Act to prohibit the importation of shark fins in Canada. This will demonstrate global leadership in the fight to stop the wasteful and inhumane practice of shark finning and end Canada’s role in the trade of fins from threatened and endangered sharks.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada will work to 1) ensure that shark management policies are based on sustainability and conservation, utilizing a precautionary approach in establishing catch limits, protection of critical habitat, minimization of shark bycatch, and other protective measures, and 2) promote, collaborate on, and commit to a binding international agreement for the protection of sharks, similar to the International Whaling Commission, which imposed stringent global catch regulations, and ultimately a global moratorium on commercial whaling to allow whale stocks to recover.

Sponsors:
Andrew Haigh, Brian Smallshaw, Tommy Mitchell, Ron MacKenzie, Margaret MacKenzi, Jean Jordan, Jan Slakov, Brian Timlick, Joanna Montrichard, Joe Foster, Juliana West, Climate Change Advisory Group, Toronto-Danforth EDA

Background

Up to 170 million sharks (65% of the total catch) are killed annually for their fins. Shark fins are usually removed while the sharks are alive and the sharks are returned to the sea where they suffer a slow and painful death. Bycatch adds to shark mortality as sharks are often retained for their fins, rather than released alive (up to 85% survive post-release). Some shark populations have declined by 90% or more and it is estimated that 60% of pelagic sharks are currently threatened with extinction (IUCN1). Although sharks have survived for almost 450 million years, most species have low productivity, taking years to reach reproductive maturity and then producing relatively few young.

Overfishing of sharks, especially larger coastal sharks, is disrupting marine ecosystems. As wide-ranging top predators, large sharks in particular regulate the populations of many prey species. In the absence of this top-down regulation, fish and invertebrates lower down the food chain can proliferate. This can have cascading consequences for productive coastal ecosystems and non-shark fisheries, and can even result in reduced populations of phytoplankton, which produce more than half of the Earth’s oxygen, and which are already declining because of ocean warming.

Of the 28 species of shark found in Canadian waters, close to half are considered to be threatened with extinction by the IUCN and seven are considered near-threatened. One of these, the Porbeagle shark, is listed as endangered in the northwest Atlantic, but, in 2013, for the fourth year in a row, a European Union proposal to protect porbeagle sharks failed due to opposition from Canada. In Canadian Atlantic waters, bycatch and unaccounted discard mortality is a primary threat to shark species. And, in 2012, Canada imported 106,109 kg of shark fins (value CAN$2,316,420) and exported or re-exported 68,973 kg (value CAN$764,955), mostly to Hong Kong.

Code

G14-P18

Proposal Type

Policy

Submitter Name

Michelle Mech

Party Commentary

This policy is consistent with Green Party policies on Oceans and Fisheries, as well as on Animal Welfare. This is some overlap with policies on Animal Welfare, specifically policy G08_p105 which states that the party will prohibit any industries involving single organ trade. However, this policy is much more detailed than that reference in existing policy G08_p105.

Preamble

WHEREAS the continuing high trade volume for shark fins, large unreported catches and discards, and excessive exploitation rates have resulted in an alarmingly elevated risk of extinction for sharks and their relatives (rays and chimaeras) and they now have the lowest percentage of species considered safe – with only 23% categorized as Least Concern (IUCN); global shark mortality must be drastically reduced in order to avoid further depletion and the possible extinction of sharks and to restore marine ecosystems with functional top predators,

AND WHEREAS over 80 countries have implemented some form of shark finning ban, there is currently no reduction in the volume of fins traded and little reduction in global catches, demonstrating that fin trade bans and/or total bans on shark fishing must be widely implemented,

AND WHEREAS there are few limits and virtually no rules to control the high\ frequency of shark finning on the high seas, where more than half of the shark species caught are threatened or near threatened with extinction, and shark finning still occurs in many countries with finning bans, which also means that importation from countries with bans does not guarantee that fins have been humanely harvested,

AND WHEREAS in Canada, it is legal to sell and purchase shark products, including shark fins, and, in 2012, 76% of samples from shark fins sold in Metro Vancouver originated from threatened species, demonstrating that Canada is importing fins from endangered and threatened species and not enforcing relevant import restrictions,

AND WHEREAS Canada’s shark finning ban utilizes the fin-to-carcass ratio: “total landings are weighed separately to ensure that fins do not exceed 5% of the overall landings (dressed weight)” (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2012), which allows for practices such as highgrading (mixing carcasses and fins from different species), or retaining more fins for every carcass onboard, and still allows for sharks to be definned at sea while they are alive,

AND WHEREAS very few of Canada’s shark species are part of a commercial shark fishery, but the taking of numerous shark species as bycatch is permitted in a number of fisheries, which results in many species being discarded at sea and therefore limited species-specific reporting and monitoring of catches landings and the trade of sharks,

AND WHEREAS FAO’s ( Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks encourages the full use of dead sharks, i.e. the consumption of shark meats and various uses for other shark parts, e.g. skin, teeth and cartilage; discarding shark bodies is extremely wasteful - the meat of many shark species, such as short fin mako, thresher and porbeagle, are commonly used for food,

AND WHEREAS to completely address the problem of shark mortality, measures to reduce catch and ensure sustainability for all shark fisheries must also be put in place and, since localized bans on shark finning can often displace the problem into less regulated areas, there is also need for strong international agreement on the protection of sharks,

Operative

BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada will work to prohibit the import, export, and domestic sale of shark fins in Canada and will amend the Fish Inspection Act to prohibit the importation of shark fins in Canada. This will demonstrate global leadership in the fight to stop the wasteful and inhumane practice of shark finning and end Canada’s role in the trade of fins from threatened and endangered sharks.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada will work to 1) ensure that shark management policies are based on sustainability and conservation, utilizing a precautionary approach in establishing catch limits, protection of critical habitat, minimization of shark bycatch, and other protective measures, and 2) promote, collaborate on, and commit to a binding international agreement for the protection of sharks, similar to the International Whaling Commission, which imposed stringent global catch regulations, and ultimately a global moratorium on commercial whaling to allow whale stocks to recover.

Sponsors

Andrew Haigh, Brian Smallshaw, Tommy Mitchell, Ron MacKenzie, Margaret MacKenzi, Jean Jordan, Jan Slakov, Brian Timlick, Joanna Montrichard, Joe Foster, Juliana West, Climate Change Advisory Group, Toronto-Danforth EDA

Background

Up to 170 million sharks (65% of the total catch) are killed annually for their fins. Shark fins are usually removed while the sharks are alive and the sharks are returned to the sea where they suffer a slow and painful death. Bycatch adds to shark mortality as sharks are often retained for their fins, rather than released alive (up to 85% survive post-release). Some shark populations have declined by 90% or more and it is estimated that 60% of pelagic sharks are currently threatened with extinction (IUCN1). Although sharks have survived for almost 450 million years, most species have low productivity, taking years to reach reproductive maturity and then producing relatively few young.

Overfishing of sharks, especially larger coastal sharks, is disrupting marine ecosystems. As wide-ranging top predators, large sharks in particular regulate the populations of many prey species. In the absence of this top-down regulation, fish and invertebrates lower down the food chain can proliferate. This can have cascading consequences for productive coastal ecosystems and non-shark fisheries, and can even result in reduced populations of phytoplankton, which produce more than half of the Earth’s oxygen, and which are already declining because of ocean warming.

Of the 28 species of shark found in Canadian waters, close to half are considered to be threatened with extinction by the IUCN and seven are considered near-threatened. One of these, the Porbeagle shark, is listed as endangered in the northwest Atlantic, but, in 2013, for the fourth year in a row, a European Union proposal to protect porbeagle sharks failed due to opposition from Canada. In Canadian Atlantic waters, bycatch and unaccounted discard mortality is a primary threat to shark species. And, in 2012, Canada imported 106,109 kg of shark fins (value CAN$2,316,420) and exported or re-exported 68,973 kg (value CAN$764,955), mostly to Hong Kong.