In late June, Congress introduced The Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016. This is what Congress introduced: "This bill makes it illegal to possess, buy, sell, transport, or trade shark fins or any product containing shark fins. A person may possess a shark fin that was lawfully taken consistent with a license or permit under certain circumstances." If you click on the link, you will see that this bill has only been introduced, and has not gone any further. It still has to go through the senate, house, president and then it will become a law.
Pictured: Hong Kong Shark Foundation Protesting UPS Shipping Shark Fins.
In early August UPS was shipping up to 15,000 sharks per load to Hong Kong to be used for shark fin soup. When this information was available to the public, petitions were being signed and protests were popping up all over the world. In Hong Kong, an estimated 26 to 73 million shark fins are bought and sold each year according to Wild Aid.
The gruesome practice of shark-finning is the process of cutting a shark's fin off and throwing it back into the ocean to die. This is very inhumane and wasteful of the shark's body. Fins are necessary to keep the shark moving and to keep water moving over its gill. Sharks without fins will die shortly after they're thrown back. But finning to many conservationists is one the main, if not the most important problem sharks are facing.
Protesters rally at a FedEx storefront in Boston on September 17, 2016
On August 18th UPS tweeted and said: "UPS has banned shark fin shipments following consultation with WWF". Protesters were overcome with excitement over this news. But of course it doesn't end there, now they are protesting Fed Ex in hopes that they will follow in UPS' footsteps. As of now UPS, Cosco, and American Airlines have all ban shipping shark fins.
Do you want to help? There's a petition you can sign! Let's stop FedEx from shipping shark fins globally. They have a goal of 300,000 signatures and already have 299,300! It may seem small for one signature, but thousands of signatures can make a difference. UPS had 180,000 signatures on their petition and multiple protests, and they finally stopped shipping shark fins. Thank you for considering signing this petition and stopping the shipment of shark fins globally.
