ISSF bans shark finning
Shark fins. Credit: NOAA
A measure passed by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation will require industry participants to adopt policies that prohibit shark finning and refrain from transactions with vessels that engage in finning.
Shark finning is the act of removing a shark’s fin while discarding the carcass at sea and violates the FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, as well as several other resolutions.
“There is no room for shark finning in a sustainable tuna fishery” said Susan Jackson, President of ISSF. “We’re calling on the tuna industry as a whole to prohibit this practice while we work with RFMO member nations to strengthen management and enforcement measures and for national governments to follow through with implementation.”
According to the ISSF Resolution to Prohibit Shark Finning:
- By June, all ISSF Participating Companies must establish and publish company policies that ban shark finning
- And by September, processors, traders, importers, transporters and others involved in the seafood industry, must refrain from transactions with vessels that carry out shark finning or with vessel owning companies that do not have a public policy prohibiting shark finning
The full resolution can be read here.
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