The How

Action + Updates

A message from StopFINNINGEU

Dear friends of the sharks and valued supporters,

We’re excited to share that Stop Finning – Stop the Trade is bringing the voices of 1.1 million EU citizens to the global stage: Thanks to your incredible support, our team will attend next week’s United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, to continue advocating for a shark fin trade ban.

Join us at our official UNOC side event:

Direct Democracy for Marine Conservation - How an European Citizens Initiative motivated 1.1 million people to support a shark fin trade ban.

  • Time: Wednesday, June 11: 14:45 - 15:30

  • Location: Green Zone: La Baleine (the Whale) – room Orca (level 2)

  • Registration: You need to register for entering the Green Zone here. For joining our event, there is no registration needed.

  • Official event info: You find the StopFinningEU event here. 

We’re also proud to co-host a special event with our partners:

Women’s Voices on the Future of Sharks – Showcasing the value of women-led innovations for shark conservation and ocean health through immersive storytelling and global collaboration.

  • Time: Thursday, June 12: 11:30 - 12:15

  • Location: Green Zone: La Baleine (the Whale) – room Medusa (level 2)

  • Registration: You need to register for entering the Green Zone here. For joining the event, there is no registration needed.

  • Official event info: You find the event here. 

Attending UNOC? Let’s connect!

Our team is open for meetings, networking, and public speaking engagements. If you’re in Nice, reach out to us! We’d love to talk shark conservation and ocean action with you.

Thank you for standing with sharks,

Your StopFinningEU-Team

P.S. Every donation brings us one step closer to a #FinBanNow.

 
 

sharks are misunderstood, but fin trade bans don’t have to be

 

  1. “Landed whole/fins naturally attached” regulations were the reasons shark fishers switched to bringing in sharks and promoting the consumption of shark meat, not fin trade bans. This is exactly the reason why we are shifting from “fins naturally attached” to a trade ban. When fins can’t be sold or shipped, it takes away the incentive to catch sharks in the first place. Targeting sharks for their meat only is not the incentive and while the fishing industry claims this is an important market, they are also fighting fin bans because in reality they are using the meat as a secondary product. Without the income from fins, the incentive decreases immensely.

  2. Recent published papers that many are referring to as proof that fin bans don’t work actually only cover “finning” regulations, fin-to-carcass ratio regulations, shark fishing prohibitions and CITES implementation — not fin trade bans. If you need clarification on these terms check out our campaign page outlining the need and purpose for a European fin trade ban here.

  3. Many fin trade bans are relatively new. Assuming that shark fishing trends from several decades are proof that current fin trade legislation isn’t working is unrealistic. There cannot be an immediate jump in shark populations. Shark numbers can take decades to recover and population assessments are not done every year. It will take some years to interpret landing data to see the effect. In places that have had fin bans in place for a while, the amount of fins traded legally has gone down dramatically, and cases of fin shipments have been prosecuted. In some cases, the effort to ban the trade of fins has subsequently led to even stronger protection of sharks.

 

REALITY: “It’s true, shark fin bans are not a perfect solution.”

They are the best option we have available at this time. They are stronger than “finning”, “landed-whole” and “fins naturally attached” laws, but weaker than a complete ban on shark fishing or the establishment of fully protected areas. The reality check here is that it is easy to say that nothing except the most complete protection will work, but judging by how long and hard the road has been to get any law passed that limits fishing, this goal is extremely difficult to achieve. In the meantime, our best bet is to create laws that are easy to enforce so that the limited capacity of monitoring and enforcement in nearly every country can be maximized.

Hawaiian Senator Clayton Hee, the author of the first shark-fin trade ban established in the state in 2010 — which then became the model legislation that subsequent US states adopted as well as federal bans including Canada and many Pacific Island Nations — highlights the importance of a fin trade ban. Hee emphasizes that “as a Senator, it is my responsibility to pass laws that work. And the existing law in place, ‘fins naturally attached’ wasn’t only not working but also enabled shark-finners to conduct their business in plain sight… Together with law enforcement leaders including former Prosecutors and Attorneys General, the passage of this law re-defined shark fins to be a commodity, to be regulated via trade and commerce statutory law. Furthermore, the terms of the bill needed to be simple, clear, and made effective through strong penalties. I can report that since the passing of the law, officers have been able to arrest everyone who has been caught with shark fins within the jurisdiction of the State of Hawaii, and for the first time violators have been prosecuted in State and Federal US courts."