Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 25 SepteMber 2017

Shark fin bans might not help sharks, scientists say

By PATRICK WHITTLE a commerce and science er’s office earlier this year
Associated Press committee in May, and a showed that the National
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) similar bill has been pro- Oceanic and Atmospheric
— As lawmakers propose posed in the House of Rep- Administration has investi-
banning the sale of shark resentatives. gated more than 500 inci-
fins in the U.S., a pair of sci- More than 100 scientists dents of alleged shark fin-
entists is pushing back, say- have endorsed the bill, ning since 2010.
ing the effort might actually said Kristin Lynch, a spokes- “Yes, we are better, but
harm attempts to conserve woman for Booker. just because we are bet-
the marine predators. “Unfortunately, current ter doesn’t mean we are
Democratic Sen. Cory laws have proven inad- good,” Snyder said. “There
Booker of New Jersey in- equate at stopping the are other threats facing
troduced a bill this year trade of fins from threat- sharks, but this is a very im-
designed to prevent peo- ened and endangered portant step in the right di-
ple from possessing or sell- sharks,” she said. rection.”
ing shark fins in America, In this Tuesday, June 12, 2012, file photo, a worker cuts a shark Marine conservation group Some commercial fishing
much to the delight of fin at a fish market in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Oceana is standing by groups have vowed to
conservation groups such Associated Press Booker’s proposal, said fight efforts to shut down
as Oceana. But marine sci- Lora Snyder, a campaign the fin trade. About a
entists David Shiffman and with Simon Fraser Univer- protections with the Shark director for the group. quarter of the value of a
Robert Hueter said this ap- sity in British Columbia. “It’s Conservation Act of 2010. Shutting down the fin trade shark is in its fins, and the
proach could be wrong- much easier for us to say, But the country still has is akin to getting the U.S. rest is in its meat, Shiffman
headed. here’s a way you can do hundreds of shark fisher- out of the ivory business, and Hueter’s study said.
Shiffman and Hueter au- this.” men, and they are allowed she said. That means the fin ban is
thored a study that ap- Shark fins are most often to have the shark’s fins re- A “near total” ban on essentially an effort to shut
pears in the November is- used in a soup considered moved for sale during pro- commercial elephant ivory down shark fishing alto-
sue of the journal Marine a delicacy in Asia. Shark fins cessing on land. took hold in the U.S. last gether, said Jeff Oden, a
Policy, saying that the U.S. that American fishermen Booker’s proposal would year, according to the U.S. Hatteras, North Carolina,
has long been a leader in harvest are often shipped change that, making it ille- Fish & Wildlife Service. fisherman who started fish-
shark fisheries manage- to Asia for processing. gal for any person to “pos- The U.S. fin trade needs to ing for sharks about 30
ment and that shutting Environmentalists and ani- sess, transport, offer for be shut down in part be- years ago.
down the U.S. fin trade mal advocates have long sale, sell, or purchase shark cause violations of the “fin- “They want to stop it, just
entirely would remove a blamed shark fin soup for fins or products containing ning” ban have continued period,” he said. “Forget
model for sustainability for the decline of certain shark shark fins.” to take place, Snyder said. the fact that we fish sus-
the rest of the world. species. Their criticism of The bill was approved by An investigation by Book- tainably in this country.”q
The U.S. also is a minor con- shark fin soup often in-
tributor to the worldwide cludes arguments against NASA’s asteroid chaser swings by Earth
shark fin trade, and coun- “finning,” which is a prac-
tries with less regulated fish- tice that’s illegal in the on way to space rock
eries would likely step in to United States and involves
fill the void if America left removing the fins from re-
the business altogether, cently caught, often live By MARCIA DUNN
Shiffman said. sharks and discarding the AP Aerospace Writer
“Removing that from the animals. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
marketplace removes a Nearly a quarter of U.S. (AP) — NASA’s asteroid-
template of a well-man- states have bans in place chasing spacecraft swung
aged fishery,” said Shiff- on the sale of fins, and by Earth on Friday on its
man, a shark researcher sharks were afforded new way to a space rock.
Launched a year ago,
CALL FOR OUR MODEL, GIRL & STRIPPERS Osiris-Rex passed within
10,711 miles (17,237 kilome-
ters) of the home planet
early Friday afternoon —
above Antarctica. It used
Earth’s gravity as a sling- This illustration provided by NASA depicts the OSIRIS-REx space-
shot to put it on a path to- craft at the asteroid Bennu.
Tour to the Red Light Lipstixaruba@outlook.com ward the asteroid Bennu. Associated Press
District with a Private Osiris-Rex should reach the
Guide & a FREE bottle small, roundish asteroid lect some of its gravel for well, scientists should get
of wine... next year and, in 2020, col- return to Earth. If all goes the samples in 2023. q