[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S4589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 695. Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr.
Portman, and Mr. Peters) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal
year 2018 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for
military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of
Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year,
and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:
At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:
SEC. ___. SHARK FIN TRADE ELIMINATION.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Sharks are critically important species for their
economic, cultural, and ecosystem value.
(2) Many shark populations are in peril worldwide and are
on the decline.
(3) One of the greatest threats to sharks is the global
trade in shark fins. It is estimated that fins from as many
as 73,000,000 sharks end up in the global shark fin trade
every year.
(4) Shark fins have no medicinal or nutritional value.
(5) The trade in shark fins is primarily focused on large
coastal and pelagic species that grow slowly, mature late,
and have low reproduction rates.
(6) Shark fins are often removed and retained while the
remainder of a shark is discarded due to the high market
value of shark fins relative to other parts of a shark.
(7) Shark fins are removed primarily to be commercialized
as a fungible commodity.
(8) Shark finning is the cruel practice in which the fins
of a shark are cut off on board a fishing vessel at sea. The
remainder of the animal is then thrown back into the water to
drown, starve, or die a slow death.
(9) Although the United States has banned the practice of
shark finning aboard vessels in waters controlled by the
United States, there is no Federal ban on the removal and
sale of shark fins once the fin is brought ashore.
(10) Once a shark fin is detached from the body, it becomes
impossible to determine whether the shark was legally caught
or the fin lawfully removed.
(11) It is difficult to determine which species of shark a
fin was removed from, which is problematic because some
species are threatened with extinction.
(12) The States of Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois,
Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island,
California, and Washington and American Samoa, Guam, and the
North Mariana Islands have implemented bans on the sale of
shark fins.
(13) Shark fins possessed, transported, offered for sale,
sold, or purchased anywhere in the United States are part of
a large international market, having a substantial and direct
effect on interstate commerce.
(14) Abolition of the shark fin trade in the United States
will remove the United States from the global shark fin
market and will put the United States in a stronger position
to advocate internationally for abolishing the shark fin
trade in other countries.
(b) Prohibition on Sale of Shark Fins.--
(1) Prohibition.--Except as provided in subsection (c), no
person shall possess, transport, offer for sale, sell, or
purchase shark fins or products containing shark fins.
(2) Penalty.--A violation of paragraph (1) shall be treated
as an act prohibited by section 307 of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1857) and
shall be penalized pursuant to section 308(a) of that Act (16
U.S.C. 1858(a)), except that the maximum civil penalty for
each violation shall be $100,000, or the fair market value of
the shark fins involved, whichever is greater.
(c) Exceptions.--A person may possess a shark fin that was
taken lawfully under a State, territorial, or Federal license
or permit to take or land sharks, if the shark fin is
separated from the shark in a manner consistent with the
license or permit and is--
(1) destroyed or discarded upon separation;
(2) used for noncommercial subsistence purposes in
accordance with State or territorial law;
(3) used solely for display or research purposes by a
museum, college, or university, or other person under a State
or Federal permit to conduct noncommercial scientific
research; or
(4) retained by the license or permit holder for a
noncommercial purpose.
(d) Dogfish.--
(1) In general.--It shall not be a violation of subsection
(b) for any person to possess, transport, offer for sale,
sell, or purchase any fresh or frozen raw fin or tail from
any stock of the species Mustelus canis (smooth dogfish) or
Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish).
(2) Report.--By not later than January 1, 2027, the
Secretary of Commerce shall review the exemption contained in
paragraph (1) and shall prepare and submit to Congress a
report that includes a recommendation on whether the
exemption contained in paragraph (1) should continue or be
terminated. In preparing such report and making such
recommendation, the Secretary shall analyze factors
including--
(A) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries with and
without the continuation of the exemption;
(B) the impact to ocean ecosystems of continuing or
terminating the exemption;
(C) the impact on enforcement of the ban contained in
subsection (b) caused by the exemption; and
(D) the impact of the exemption on shark conservation.
(e) Definition of Shark Fin.--In this section, the term
``shark fin'' means--
(1) the raw or dried or otherwise processed detached fin of
a shark; or
(2) the raw or dried or otherwise processed detached tail
of a shark.
(f) State Authority.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to preclude, deny, or limit any right of a State or
territory to adopt or enforce any regulation or standard that
is more stringent than a regulation or standard in effect
under this section.
(g) Severability.--If any provision of this section or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid,
the invalidity does not affect other provisions or
applications of this section which can be given effect
without the invalid provision or application, and to this end
the provisions of this section are severable.
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