The U.S. Shark Conservation Axe of 2013

"The U.S. Shark Conservation Axe of 2013" is an article relating to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency's (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) proposed implementation ruling on the Shark Conservation Act of 2010. The NMFS's proposed rule would include preempting all of the U.S. state and territorial bans on the possession and trade in shark fins ― bans that NOAA-NMFS claim may "unduly" interfere with Federal law. The stakes are terribly high, as losing these shark fin trade bans would be a massive setback for shark conservation worldwide.

I described the full consequences of the proposed preemption ruling and singled out the vested interests behind it. I also urged the public to send in their individual comments and to sign on four petitions before the July 31, 2013 deadline for submission.

I concluded: "If preempted, states and territories that democratically enacted shark fin bans would be coerced into opening their markets to shark fins, a form of forced subsidization for the fishing industry."

During August of 2013, the Justice Department & NOAA made their first challenge to California's shark fin ban in an appellate case concerning the Chinatown Neighborhood Association in San Francisco. Thankfully, the California fin ban was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court. By September of 2016, eleven states and three U.S. territories had passed shark fin bans, and a national ban on the shark fin trade has recently been introduced in Congress as the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act.