Political fight rages over...shark fins

A battle between Chinese cultural groups and environmentalists is raging in Sacramento over the harvesting and sale of shark fins, the chief ingredient in shark-fin soup. A bill to ban the sale and possession of shark fins has passed the state legislature but is stalled in the senate. 

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - Several Chinese American politicians, some of whom are running for mayor of San Francisco, are fighting to keep the bill from passing to preserve what the Chinese say is an important part of their cultural heritage. Shark fin soup, which can sell for more than $80 a serving, is traditionally served at weddings and as a medicine. Many Chinese consider its consumption as a status symbol.
 
Scientists and environmentalists however attack the practice as dangerous and cruel. To harvest the fins, fishermen catch the sharks and cut off their fins, then throw the shark back into the water, usually still alive. Bleeding and unable to swim, the shark dies. Worse, sharks are an important predator species often consuming other large predator fish, including those that prey on fish that humans consume. The risk of overharvesting the sharks then, is a decline in fish stocks.

Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Sunnyvale), a sponsor of the bill, said, "Anything that is unhealthy, that the culture is practicing, we should stop doing it. We used to bind women's feet, and that was unhealthy for the woman."

Other Chinese American politicians such as Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), have proposed a compromise amendment that would allow the sale of fins that were legally harvested in California or can show that they were sustainably harvested elsewhere.

However, these amendments are being criticized as difficult to enforce. International trade rules prohibit laws that ban imports while allowing domestic production to continue. Also, it would create a substantial market for the fins that would increase the financial incentive for people to trade in the fins illegally.

Presently, Hawai'i and Washington have bans on shark fins and President Obama recently passed legislation tightening the ban on finning in US waters. The bill goes to the senate this August.

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