* Jessica Spiegel is the Senior Executive Editor of the Boston College International and Comparative Law Review.
1 Michael D. Lemonick, Under Attack—It’s Humans, Not Sharks, Who Are Nature’s Most Feared Predators, Time, Aug. 11, 1997, available at http:www.pathfinder.com/time/mag... 0811/environment.under_attack_.html.
2 Id.
3 Mark Hughes, Good News for Sharks, Earthlaw Newsletter, at http://www.earthlaw. org/Newslett/letter17.htm (Apr. 10, 1998).
4 189 Cong. Rec. H11154 (daily ed. Nov. 1, 1999) [hereinafter Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning].
5 Id. at 11154, 11156.
6 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154.
7 Lemonick, supra note 1; Peter Benchley, Great White Sharks, Nat. Geographic, Apr. 2000, at 14.
8 Robert H. Heuter, Shark Finning and Coral Reef Preservation, Cong. Testimony by Fed. Document Clearing House, Oct. 12, 1999, available at 1999 WL 27595991.
9 Merry Camhi, Sharks on the Line: A State by State Analysis of Sharks and Their Fisheries, Living Oceans, Nat’l Audubon Soc’y, Jun. 1998; Susie Watts, Saving Sharks from the Jaws of Greed, Animal’s Agenda, Sept. 1, 1999, at 30; Ian K. Fergusson, Formal Submission to the Maltese Department of the Environment: Proposal to Conserve the Great White Shark—Carcharodon Carcharias—In Maltese Waters, Shark Trust, European Elasmobranch Ass’n & Marine Life Care Group of Malta, 1998, at http://www.zoo.co.uk/~z9015043/malta_ws.html (last visited Jan. 27, 2000); Market for Fins Puts Basking Shark at Risk, W. Morning News, Aug. 16, 1999, at 24.
10 Id.
11 Camhi, supra note 9.
12 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154; Lemonick, supra note 1.
13 Shark Case: TED Studies, Trade and Envtl. Database, at http://www.sharks/shark-law.htm (last visited Sept. 24, 1999).
14 Robert Templer, Food for Thought: Chicken Soup for the Ostentatious Soul—Tonic or Tragedy? East, West Divided Over Shark’s Fin, Asian Wall St. J., Aug. 13, 1999, at P8.
15 Lemonick, supra note 1.
16 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13; Watts, supra note 9.
17 Templer, supra note 14.
18 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
19 Id.; Lemonick, supra note 1.
20 Heuter, supra note 8.
21 Shark Tagger, Shark Finning, at http://www.fpsslhost.com/charkbai/wwwboard/ messages/504.html (Nov. 29, 1998); Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13. All references to currency in dollar amounts are U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.
22 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
23 Id.
24 Watts, supra note 9.
25 Sites Selling Shark Fins, Fishmd.com, at http://www.fishmd.com/finfood.htm (last visited Mar. 6, 2000).
26 Id. This reserve exists largely because Americans never had a tradition of shark eating. Id.
27 H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
28 Conservation, Pelagic Shark Research Found., 1997, at http://www.sharkinfo.htm (last visited Sept. 9, 1999); Camhi, supra note 9.
29 Id.
30 Shark Fin Harvesting, NBC Hawaii (Jan. 21, 1999), at http://www.khnl.com/news/ 012199_6.htm; Tagger, supra note 21; Watts, supra note 9.
31 Tagger, supra note 21.
32 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
33 Tan Bee Hong, Fins of Finesse, New Straits Times, Jul. 18, 1999, at 7, available at 1999 WL 21735708.
34 Shark Attack, Remarkable Ocean World: The Library, at http://www. oceansonline.com/sharks.htm (last modified Jan. 6, 2000).
35 Id.
36 See Tagger, supra note 21.
37 Shark Fin Harvesting, supra note 30; Tagger, supra note 21.
38 Lemonick, supra note 1.
39 Id. It is a misrepresentation that shark cartilage pills help fight cancer. Id. Shark cartilage does contain minute quantities of a compound that inhibits blood-vessel growth, and tumors depend on the rapid growth of internal blood vessels that can feed them, but this substance is locked up in the cartilage and doesn’t leak out to the rest of the body. Id. To extract it, scientists have to soak huge amounts of cartilage in harsh chemicals for weeks at a time. Id. Nevertheless, shark cartilage is made into pills and sold to unknowing consumers. Id.
40 Id.
41 Heuter, supra note 8.
42 Lemonick, supra note 1.
43 Hillary Mayell, Factoids: Sharks in Trouble, Envtl. News Network, Oct. 23, 1998. As well as being served in soup, shark fin meat sometimes appears in dumplings, stuffed into duck or chicken, or stirred into scrambled eggs, depending on the country. Templer, supra note 14.
44 Lemonick, supra note 1.
45 Jenny Chung, Bill Worries Shark’s Fin Aficionados, S. China Morning Post, Jun. 8, 2000, at 7, available at 2000 WL 21993647.
46 Templer, supra note 14.
47 Id.
48 Annabel Graham, The World’s Fishing Fleets are Making a Mockery of our Concept of the Ocean as a Boundless, Limitless Resource, S. China Morning Post, Apr. 11, 1999, at 14.
49 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
50 Jim Hill, Shark Defenders Decry Practice of ‘Finning,’ CNN.com, at http://cnn.com/ NATURE/9908/31/shark.fin.fight/index.html (Aug. 31, 1999).
51 16 U.S.C. §§ 1801–1822 (1996); Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Pub. L. No. 94–265 (1976) (amended 1996). The name changed when the Act was amended on October 11, 1996. Fishery Management Councils, at http://www.noaa.gov/ nmfs/councils.html (last visited Jan. 27, 2000).
52 NOAA Office of Legislative Affairs, House Unanimously Passes Administration Supported Resolution Condemning Shark Finning, Informer, at http://www. legislative.noaa.gov (last modified Nov. 3, 1999) [hereinafter House Unanimously Passes Administration Supported Resolution Condemning Shark Finning); Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, supra note 51. The 200 mile zone of federal waters became known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1983. House Unanimously Passes Administration Supported Resolution Condemning Shark Finning, supra.
53 House Unanimously Passes Administration Supported Resolution Condemning Shark Finning, supra note 52.
54 Id. The Councils are: Caribbean Fishery Management Council, Gulf Fishery Management Council, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Council, New England Fishery Management Council, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, Pacific Fishery Management Council, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and Western Fishery Management Council. Fishery Management Councils, supra note 51.
55 House Unanimously Passes Administration Supported Resolution Condemning Shark Finning, supra note 52; Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, supra note 51.
56 See id.
57 S. Offshore Fishing Ass’n v. Daley, 995 F. Supp. 1411, 1416, 1426 (1998).
58 Id.; Final Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tuna, Swordfish, and Sharks, Highly Migratory Species Management Div., April 1999; Camhi, supra note 9; Hughes, supra note 3.
59 Scoping Document for a Combined Environmental Impact Statement and Fishery Management Plan for the Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species of the West Coast, Pac. Fishery Management Council, Sept. 1999.
60 S. Offshore Fishing Ass’n, 995 F. Supp. at 1415.
61 Id.
62 Heuter, supra note 8.
63 Camhi, supra note 9.
64 Id.
65 Lemonick, supra note 1; see infra notes 104, 106, 111; Camhi, supra note 9.
66 House Urges End to Shark Finning, AP Online, Nov. 1, 1999, available at 1999 WL 28134580.
67 Camhi, supra note 9; Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13. “Landing” a fish is when the fish is unloaded from the boat to the dock. Unofficial Compilation of Fed. Regulations Prepared in the Southeast Regional Office of the NMFS for the Information and Convenience of Interested Persons, Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, NMFS, 50 C.F.R. Part 678 (1997).
68 S. Offshore Fishing Ass’n, 995 F. Supp. at 1418.
69 Hughes, supra note 3.
70 Id.
71 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11156; Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fisheries; Fisheries Management Plan, Plan Amendment, and Consolidation of Regulations, 64 Fed. Reg. 29090, 29108 (1999) (to be codified at 15 C.F.R Part 902); Final Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tuna, Swordfish, and Sharks, supra note 58.
72 States Move to Close Loophole in Shark Conservation: Conservationists Praise Action, Ctr. for Marine Conservation, May 20, 1999; H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
73 Camhi, supra note 9.
74 Id.
75 Id.
76 Id.
77 Id.
78 Camhi, supra note 9.
79 Id.
80 See id.; Sonja Fordham, Save the Sharks in Massachusetts, Boston Globe, Mar. 15, 2000, at A23.
81 Camhi, supra note 9.
82 Id.; Fordham, supra note 80.
83 Id.
84 Id.
85 Id.
86 Id.
87 Camhi, supra note 9.
88 Id.
89 N.Y. Envtl. Conservation Law § 43-B (McKinney 1999); Nat. Audubon Soc’y Ctr. for Marine Conservation, Shark Fin Ban Proposed, at http:// 128.227.186.212/fish/ Sharks/InNews/FinBan2.htm (Feb. 17, 1998); Kevin Kelly, Shark Finning and Coral Reef Preservation, Cong. Testimony by Fed. Document Clearing House, Oct. 21, 1999, available at 1999 WL 27596043.
90 Camhi, supra note 9.
91 Id.
92 Id.
93 Sharks and Cartilaginous Fish Discussion, Attn: Massachusetts Residents: Massachusetts Derails Shark Conservation Plan, Shark-L Archives, Mar. 2, 2000; Fordham, supra note 80.
94 John F. Kerry, Editorial, Another View of the Spiny Dogfish Problem, Boston Globe, Mar. 20, 2000, at A10.
95 Camhi, supra note 9; Lemonick, supra note 1.
96 Camhi, supra note 9.
97 Lemonick, supra note 1.
98 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154.
99 Shark Finning, Fishmd.com, at wysiwyg://10/http://www.fishmd.com/sharks.htm (last visited Mar. 6, 2000).
100 Id.
101 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154.
102 Id. The International Plan of Action for Sharks is discussed infra Part I section D.
103 H.R. Con. Res. 189, 106th Cong. (1999).
104 Id.
105 House Unanimously Passes Administration Supported Resolution Condemning Shark Finning, supra note 52.
106 Congress Passes Ban on Shark Finning, U.S. Newswire, Nov. 2, 1999, available at 1999 WL 22283180; Bart Jansen, Federal Council, Congress Consider Shark Fishing Limits, Columbian, Oct. 28, 1999, available at 1999 WL 24807816.
107 Jansen, supra note 106.
108 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154.
109 Id.
110 Id. at 11157.
111 Erin Kelly, Congress May Seek Ban on Shark “Finning,” Gannett News Serv., Oct. 29, 1999, available at 1999 WL 6977130.
112 John Yaukey, House Panel Holds Hearing on Proposal to Ban Shark Finning, Gannett News Serv., Oct. 22, 1999, available at 1999 WL 6977130.
113 Kelly, supra note 111.
114 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11157, 11158.
115 Id. at 11158.
116 Id. at 11157, 11158.
117 Id. at 11157.
118 Tagger, supra note 21; Scoping Document for a Combined Environmental Impact Statement and Fishery Management Plan for the Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species of the West Coast, supra note 59.
119 Id.; Shark Fin Harvesting, supra note 30.
120 Id.
121 Shark Fin Harvesting, supra note 30.
122 Scoping Document for a Combined Environmental Impact Statement and Fishery Management Plan for the Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species of the West Coast, supra note 59.
123 Id.
124 Jansen, supra note 106; H.R.1947, 20th Leg. (Haw. 1999).
125 H.R. 1947, 20th Leg. (Haw. 1999).
126 Shark & Cartilaginous Fish Discussion, at http://raven.utc.edu/Archives/shark-1. html (Jun. 22, 2000).
127 Id.
128 Id.
129 See, e.g., Timothy J. Moroney, Environmental Protection: Commercial Fishing, 27 Pac. L.J. 718 (1996).
130 Scoping Document for a Combined Environmental Impact Statement and Fishery Management Plan for the Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species of the West Coast, supra note 59.
131 Id.
132 Id.
133 Alaska Shark Assessment Program: Sound Shark Research Collaboration—Gulf of Alaska, Nat. Marine Fisheries Serv., at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/oil/ sharks/htm (last visited on Mar. 23, 2000).
134 Id.; ‘Duke’ Against Finning of Blue Sharks, San Diego Union-Trib., Oct. 22, 1999, at B4.
135 Id.
136 H.R. 3535, 106th Cong. (2000).
137 Shark Archives, U.S. Senate Passes Legislation to Halt Shark Finning, at http://raven. utc.edu (Jun. 29, 2000).
138 Id.
139 Id.
140 H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
141 Id.
142 Trey Hardin, Cunningham Successfully Puts an End to Shark Finning, at http://raven.utc.edu (Dec. 7, 2000).
143 Id.
144 Lemonick, supra note 1; Market for Fins Puts Basking Shark at Risk, supra note 9, at 24.
145 H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
146 Shark Finning Banned in NSW, Humane Soc’y Int’l, Australia Office, at http:www.his.org.au/finning.html (last visited Jan. 24, 2000); Market for Fins Puts Basking Shark at Risk, supra note 9, at 24; Atlantic Shark Management Plan for 1997–1999 Announced, Fisheries and Oceans Canada News Release, Apr. 28, 1997.
147 Watts, supra note 9; see Fergusson, supra note 9.
148 Lemonick, supra note 1; Camhi, supra note 9.
149 Mayell, supra note 43; Anuphab Theerarat, Push to Ban Hunting of Whale Sharks in Thailand, Agence France-Presse, Jan. 15, 2000, available at 1999 WL 2713255; Environmentalists Campaign at CITES to Protect the World’s Great Sharks, E-Wire Source World Rep., Apr. 17, 2000, available at 2000 WL 7146646.
150 Simon Benson, Sharks Out of the Soup, Australasian Bus. Intelligence, Jun. 2, 1999, available at 1999 WL 2300481.
151 Id.
152 Id.
153 Shark Finning Banned in NSW, supra note 146.
154 Helen O’Neill, Australians Declare War on Shark Killers, Sun. Tel., Jul. 25, 1999, at 34.
155 Id.
156 Carmelo Amalfi, Live Shark Finning Banned, The W. Australian, Oct. 6, 2000, at 8, available at 2000 WL 25655032. The Interim Ban mandates that all sharks are landed whole. Id.
157 Id.
158 See Market for Fins Puts Basking Shark at Risk, supra note 9.
159 Id.
160 Id.
161 Id.
162 Id.
163 Market for Fins Puts Basking Shark at Risk, supra note 9; An unexpected result of Britain’s basking shark protection measures was Singapore Airline’s elimination of shark-fin soup from its in-flight menu. Singapore Airlines, Express, Mar. 9, 1999, available at 1999 WL 5815806.
164 Market for Fins Puts Basking Shark at Risk, supra note 9.
165 Atlantic Shark Management Plan for 1997–1999 Announced, supra note 146.
166 Id.
167 Id. The limitation is that the fins can’t exceed a maximum of 5% by weight fins per dressed carcass weight. Id.
168 Kelly, supra note 89.
169 H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
170 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
171 Id.
172 Zephania Ubwani, Tanzania Urged to Restrict Shark Fishing, Afr. News Serv., Feb. 2, 2000, available at 2000 WL 12887265.
173 Theerarat, supra note 149.
174 Id.
175 Id.
176 Thai Air Takes Shark Soup Off Menu, AP Online, Jun. 26, 2000, available at 2000 WL 22887294.
177 S.M. Mohd Idris, Fin Trade Taking Big Bite Out of World’s Shark Population, New Straits Times, Nov. 18, 1999, at 13; Andy Ho, Shark Finis?, Straits Times, Aug. 27, 2000, at 35, available at 2000 WL 2984237.
178 Ho, supra note 177.
179 Templer, supra note 14.
180 Id.; Tagger, supra note 21.
181 Id.
182 Mayell, supra note 43.
183 Watts, supra note 9.
184 Id.
185 Id.
186 Id.
187 Id.
188 Watts, supra note 9.
189 Id.
190 Id.
191 W. Cent. Atlantic Fishery Comm’n: Restructuring of WECAFC: Options and Implications, 9th Sess., para. 13, Sept. 1999.
192 Id.
193 Id.
194 Id.
195 Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
196 Lemonick, supra note 1.
197 Michael Twigg, Marine Species Protection and Pollution Prevention, 7 Geo. Int’l Envtl. L. Rev. 869, 873 (1995); Shark Case: TED Studies, supra note 13.
198 Twigg, supra note 197.
199 Dominique Greboval, FAO Consultation on Conservation and Management of Sharks, FAO Consultations, at http://www.nmfs.gov/faoconsl.htm (last visited Nov. 11, 1999).
200 Lemonick, supra note 1.
201 Id.
202 Greboval, supra note 199.
203 Report of U.S. Experts on the Meeting of the FAO Technical Working Group (TWG) on the Conservation and Management of Sharks, FAO Consultation on the Management of Fishing Capacity, Apr. 23–27, 1998.
204 Mayell, supra note 43; International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, F.A.O. Fisheries Dept. (1998), at http://www.foa.org/WAICENT/FOAINFO/ FISHERY/ipa/manage.asp.
205 Id.
206 Id.
207 International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, supra note 204; Watts, supra note 9.
208 International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, supra note 204.
209 See id.; Watts, supra note 9.
210 International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, supra note 204.
211 Id.
212 Id.
213 Id.
214 Id.
215 Convention on Int’l Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Gigiri (Kenya), Agenda, 10–20 April 2000; International Shark Trade Restrictions Defeated at CITES, U.S. Newswire, Apr. 20, 2000, available at 2000 WL 4144139.
216 Giam Choo Hoo, Extreme Groups Put the Poor in the Soup, New Straits Times, Jul. 23, 2000, at 42, available at 2000 WL 2979235. CITES meets every two years to decide which wildlife should be included on the endangered list. Id.
217 Lemonick, supra note 1.
218 Id.
219 Id.
220 Id.
221 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154; Templer, supra note 14.
222 Heuter, supra note 8.
223 Id.
224 Id.
225 Id.
226 Id.
227 Heuter, supra note 8.
228 Id.
229 Id.
230 Id.
231 Id.
232 Heuter, supra note 8.
233 Id.
234 Id.
235 Id.
236 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11154.
237 Heuter, supra note 8.
238 Camhi, supra note 9.
239 Heuter, supra note 8.
240 Camhi, supra note 9.
241 Id.
242 Id.
243 Id.
244 Id.
245 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11156.
246 H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
247 16 U.S.C. § 1801 (1996).
248 Id.
249 Fordham, supra note 80.
250 Heuter, supra note 8; Camhi, supra note 9.
251 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11158.
252 Id.
253 Id.
254 Id. at 11155.
255 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11156.
256 H.R. 5461, 106th Cong. (2000).
257 Sonja Fordham et al., Letter to Jim Cook of WESPAC, W. Pac. Fishery Management Council, Dec. 1, 1998.
258 See id.
259 See id.
260 Camhi, supra note 9.
261 Id.
262 Id.
263 Margot Higgins, Push Begins to Halt Pacific Shark Finning, Econet Headlines, IGC Member Conference, Oct. 4, 1999. The word “pelagic” means an open ocean fish.
264 S. Offshore Fishing Ass’n, 995 F. Supp. at 1416.
265 Id.
266 Xi He, Bycatch and Discards of Blue Shark, Prionace Glauca, by the Hawaii-based Longline Fishery from 1991–1995, Joint Inst. of Marine and Atmospheric Research, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology, University of Hawaii.
267 Heuter, supra note 8.
268 Lemonick, supra note 1.
269 Debate and Final House Passage of the Sense of Congress Regarding Shark Finning, supra note 4, at 11156.
270 Environmentalists Campaign at CITES to Protect the World’s Great Sharks, supra note 149.