II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 877 

To prohibit sale of shark fins, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 26, 2019 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, Ms. MCSALLY, and Mr. SCHATZ) 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shark Fin Sales Elimi5 nation Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Sharks are critically important species for 

9 their economic, cultural, and ecosystem value. 

10 (2) Many shark populations are in peril world11 wide and are on the decline. 


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1 (3) One of the greatest threats to sharks is the 

2 global trade in shark fins. It is estimated that fins 

3 from as many as 73,000,000 sharks end up in the 

4 global shark fin trade every year. 

5 (4) Shark fins have no medicinal or nutritional 

6 value. 

7 (5) The trade in shark fins is primarily focused 

8 on large coastal and pelagic species that grow slowly, 

9 mature late, and have low reproduction rates. 

10 (6) Shark fins are often removed and retained 

11 while the remainder of a shark is discarded due to 

12 the high market value of shark fins relative to other 

13 parts of a shark. 

14 (7) Shark fins are removed primarily to be com15 mercialized as a fungible commodity. 

16 (8) Shark finning is the cruel practice in which 

17 the fins of a shark are cut off on board a fishing 

18 vessel at sea. The remainder of the animal is then 

19 thrown back into the water to drown, starve, or die 

20 a slow death. 

21 (9) Although the United States has banned the 

22 practice of shark finning aboard vessels in waters 

23 controlled by the United States, there is no Federal 

24 ban on the removal and sale of shark fins once the 

25 fin is brought ashore. 


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1 (10) Once a shark fin is detached from the 

2 body, it becomes impossible to determine whether 

3 the shark was legally caught or the fin lawfully re4 moved. 

5 (11) It is difficult to determine which species of 

6 shark a fin was removed from, which is problematic 

7 because some species are threatened with extinction. 

8 (12) The States of Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Il9 linois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, 

10 Rhode Island, California, Nevada, and Washington 

11 and American Samoa, Guam, and the North Mar12 iana Islands have implemented bans on the sale of 

13 shark fins. 

14 (13) Shark fins possessed, transported, offered 

15 for sale, sold, or purchased anywhere in the United 

16 States are part of a large international market, hav17 ing a substantial and direct effect on interstate com18 merce. 

19 (14) Abolition of the shark fin trade in the 

20 United States will remove the United States from 

21 the global shark fin market and will put the United 

22 States in a stronger position to advocate internation23 ally for abolishing the shark fin trade in other coun24 tries. 


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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF SHARK FINS. 

2 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in section 4, 

3 no person shall possess, transport, offer for sale, sell, or 

4 purchase shark fins or products containing shark fins. 

5 (b) PENALTY.—A violation of subsection (a) shall be 

6 treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of the Magnu7 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

8 (16 U.S.C. 1857) and shall be penalized pursuant to sec9 tion 308(a) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), except that 

10 the maximum civil penalty for each violation shall be 

11 $100,000, or the fair market value of the shark fins in12 volved, whichever is greater. 

13 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. 

14 A person may possess a shark fin that was taken law15 fully under a State, territorial, or Federal license or per16 mit to take or land sharks, if the shark fin is separated 

17 from the shark in a manner consistent with the license 

18 or permit and is— 

19 (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation; 

20 (2) used for noncommercial subsistence pur21 poses in accordance with State or territorial law; 

22 (3) used solely for display or research purposes 

23 by a museum, college, or university, or other person 

24 under a State or Federal permit to conduct non25 commercial scientific research; or 


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1 (4) retained by the license or permit holder for 

2 a noncommercial purpose. 

3 SEC. 5. DOGFISH. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be a violation of sec5 tion 3 for any person to possess, transport, offer for sale, 

6 sell, or purchase any fresh or frozen raw fin or tail from 

7 any stock of the species Mustelus canis (smooth dogfish) 

8 or Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish). 

9 (b) REPORT.—By not later than January 1, 2027, 

10 the Secretary of Commerce shall review the exemption 

11 contained in subsection (a) and shall prepare and submit 

12 to Congress a report that includes a recommendation on 

13 whether the exemption contained in subsection (a) should 

14 continue or be terminated. In preparing such report and 

15 making such recommendation, the Secretary shall analyze 

16 factors including— 

17 (1) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries 

18 with and without the continuation of the exemption; 

19 (2) the impact to ocean ecosystems of con20 tinuing or terminating the exemption; 

21 (3) the impact on enforcement of the ban con22 tained in section 3 caused by the exemption; and 

23 (4) the impact of the exemption on shark con24 servation. 


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1 SEC. 6. DEFINITION OF SHARK FIN. 

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘shark fin’’ means— 

3 (1) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de4 tached fin of a shark; or 

5 (2) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de6 tached tail of a shark. 

7 SEC. 7. STATE AUTHORITY. 

8 Nothing in this Act may be construed to preclude, 

9 deny, or limit any right of a State or territory to adopt 

10 or enforce any regulation or standard that is more strin11 gent than a regulation or standard in effect under this 

12 Act. 

13 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

14 If any provision of this Act or its application to any 

15 person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does 

16 not affect other provisions or applications of this Act 

17 which can be given effect without the invalid provision or 

18 application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are 

19 severable. 

Æ 


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