Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1106 To prohibit sale of shark fins, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 13, 2021 Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To prohibit sale of shark fins, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shark Fin Sales Elimi- 4 nation Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Sharks are critically important species for 8 their economic, cultural, and ecosystem value. 9 (2) Many shark populations are in peril world- 10 wide and are on the decline. 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1106 IS (3) One of the greatest threats to sharks is the 1 global trade in shark fins. It is estimated that fins 2 from as many as 73,000,000 sharks end up in the 3 global shark fin trade every year. 4 (4) Shark fins have no medicinal or nutritional 5 value. 6 (5) The trade in shark fins is primarily focused 7 on large coastal and pelagic species that grow slowly, 8 mature late, and have low reproduction rates. 9 (6) Shark fins are often removed and retained 10 while the remainder of a shark is discarded due to 11 the high market value of shark fins relative to other 12 parts of a shark. 13 (7) Shark fins are removed primarily to be com- 14 mercialized as a fungible commodity. 15 (8) Shark finning is the cruel practice in which 16 the fins of a shark are cut off on board a fishing 17 vessel at sea. The remainder of the animal is then 18 thrown back into the water to drown, starve, or die 19 a slow death. 20 (9) Although the United States has banned the 21 practice of shark finning aboard vessels in waters 22 controlled by the United States, there is no Federal 23 ban on the removal and sale of shark fins once the 24 fin is brought ashore. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1106 IS (10) Once a shark fin is detached from the 1 body, it becomes impossible to determine whether 2 the shark was legally caught or the fin lawfully re- 3 moved. 4 (11) It is difficult to determine which species of 5 shark a fin was removed from, which is problematic 6 because some species are threatened with extinction. 7 (12) The States of Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Il- 8 linois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, 9 Rhode Island, California, Nevada, and Washington 10 and American Samoa, Guam, and the North Mar- 11 iana Islands have implemented bans on the sale of 12 shark fins. 13 (13) Shark fins possessed, transported, offered 14 for sale, sold, or purchased anywhere in the United 15 States are part of a large international market, hav- 16 ing a substantial and direct effect on interstate com- 17 merce. 18 (14) Abolition of the shark fin trade in the 19 United States will remove the United States from 20 the global shark fin market and will put the United 21 States in a stronger position to advocate internation- 22 ally for abolishing the shark fin trade in other coun- 23 tries. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1106 IS SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF SHARK FINS. 1 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in section 4, 2 no person shall possess, transport, offer for sale, sell, or 3 purchase shark fins or products containing shark fins. 4 (b) PENALTY.—A violation of subsection (a) shall be 5 treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of the Magnu- 6 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 7 (16 U.S.C. 1857) and shall be penalized pursuant to sec- 8 tion 308(a) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), except that 9 the maximum civil penalty for each violation shall be 10 $100,000, or the fair market value of the shark fins in- 11 volved, whichever is greater. 12 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. 13 A person may possess a shark fin that was taken law- 14 fully under a State, territorial, or Federal license or per- 15 mit to take or land sharks, if the shark fin is separated 16 from the shark in a manner consistent with the license 17 or permit and is— 18 (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation; 19 (2) used for noncommercial subsistence pur- 20 poses in accordance with State or territorial law; 21 (3) used solely for display or research purposes 22 by a museum, college, or university, or other person 23 under a State or Federal permit to conduct non- 24 commercial scientific research; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1106 IS (4) retained by the license or permit holder for 1 a noncommercial purpose. 2 SEC. 5. DOGFISH. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be a violation of sec- 4 tion 3 for any person to possess, transport, offer for sale, 5 sell, or purchase any fresh or frozen raw fin or tail from 6 any stock of the species Mustelus canis (smooth dogfish) 7 or Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish). 8 (b) REPORT.—By not later than January 1, 2027, 9 the Secretary of Commerce shall review the exemption 10 contained in subsection (a) and shall prepare and submit 11 to Congress a report that includes a recommendation on 12 whether the exemption contained in subsection (a) should 13 continue or be terminated. In preparing such report and 14 making such recommendation, the Secretary shall analyze 15 factors including— 16 (1) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries 17 with and without the continuation of the exemption; 18 (2) the impact to ocean ecosystems of con- 19 tinuing or terminating the exemption; 20 (3) the impact on enforcement of the ban con- 21 tained in section 3 caused by the exemption; and 22 (4) the impact of the exemption on shark con- 23 servation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1106 IS SEC. 6. DEFINITION OF SHARK FIN. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘shark fin’’ means— 2 (1) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de- 3 tached fin of a shark; or 4 (2) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de- 5 tached tail of a shark. 6 SEC. 7. STATE AUTHORITY. 7 Nothing in this Act may be construed to preclude, 8 deny, or limit any right of a State or territory to adopt 9 or enforce any regulation or standard that is more strin- 10 gent than a regulation or standard in effect under this 11 Act. 12 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 13 If any provision of this Act or its application to any 14 person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does 15 not affect other provisions or applications of this Act 16 which can be given effect without the invalid provision or 17 application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are 18 severable. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS