Finning heads for Parliament

The EDM was lodged by Martin Horwood, Shadow Environment Minister for the Liberal Democrats; Richard Benyon, Shadow Environment Minister for the Conservatives; and Russell Brown, Labour MP for Dumfries and Galloway.

It is hoped that it will be heard before the summer recess.

Noting that “over 70 per cent of UK sharks, skates and rays are categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as threatened or near threatened with extinction”, the EDM calls on the Government to “lead the way” among European governments in shark-conservation measures.

A key request is that the British Government should cease granting derogations from EU shark-finning legislation, whereby British fishing boats have been able to obtain permits allowing a degree of finning, despite the activity being banned under EU law.

Such a withdrawal would be in line with the new European Community Plan of Action for Sharks, currently under consideration by EU Fisheries ministers. It advises revision of current EU finning legislation with, among other things, a proposal to close loopholes which have allowed continued finning to take place in European waters.

The Shark Trust, based in Plymouth, Devon, has welcomed the EDM in highlighting the value of the EU Community Plan and the need to improve finning legislation. Ali Hood, Director of Conservation, who has played a strong role in advising politicians in London and Brussels, said:

“The shark-fin trade encourages unsustainable mortality and unacceptable levels of waste, and it is imperative that the UK Government complies with the original intent of the EU shark-finning ban and ceases to permit the removal of shark fins at sea.”

Martin Horwood has paid tribute to the Shark Trust’s contributions so far, acknowledging that it had been “instrumental in securing the EU shark-finning ban”, which was passed in 2003, and has been “working ever since to improve this regulation”.

For his own part, he recognised that “the time is right to review the finning regulation” and, as such, was “pleased to have an opportunity to bring this important issue to the attention of my fellow Members of Parliament and the wider constituency”.

The full EDM, lodged on 26 March, can be read at http://edmi.parliament.uk On the home page, select the box marked ‘EDMs’ and, in the page which comes up, key ‘shark finning’ into the top-of-page search box.