II 

Calendar No. 325 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 877 

[Report No. 116–173] 

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, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BRAUN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. 

CASEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CARPER, 

Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. WARNER, Mr. PETERS, Mr. 

SANDERS, Mr. KING, Ms. SINEMA, Ms. SMITH, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. HARRIS, 

Mr. MURPHY, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WYDEN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. KAINE, Mr. 

BROWN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. BENNET, and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

DECEMBER 12, 2019 

Reported by Mr. WICKER, without amendment 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shark Fin Sales Elimi3 nation Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Sharks are critically important species for 

7 their economic, cultural, and ecosystem value. 

8 (2) Many shark populations are in peril world9 wide and are on the decline. 

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

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

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

13 global shark fin trade every year. 

14 (4) Shark fins have no medicinal or nutritional 

15 value. 

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

17 on large coastal and pelagic species that grow slowly, 

18 mature late, and have low reproduction rates. 

19 (6) Shark fins are often removed and retained 

20 while the remainder of a shark is discarded due to 

21 the high market value of shark fins relative to other 

22 parts of a shark. 

23 (7) Shark fins are removed primarily to be com24 mercialized as a fungible commodity. 

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

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


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

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

3 a slow death. 

4 (9) Although the United States has banned the 

5 practice of shark finning aboard vessels in waters 

6 controlled by the United States, there is no Federal 

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

8 fin is brought ashore. 

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

10 body, it becomes impossible to determine whether 

11 the shark was legally caught or the fin lawfully re12 moved. 

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

14 shark a fin was removed from, which is problematic 

15 because some species are threatened with extinction. 

16 (12) The States of Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Il17 linois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, 

18 Rhode Island, California, Nevada, and Washington 

19 and American Samoa, Guam, and the North Mar20 iana Islands have implemented bans on the sale of 

21 shark fins. 

22 (13) Shark fins possessed, transported, offered 

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

24 States are part of a large international market, havVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S877.RS S877

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1 ing a substantial and direct effect on interstate com2 merce. 

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

4 United States will remove the United States from 

5 the global shark fin market and will put the United 

6 States in a stronger position to advocate internation7 ally for abolishing the shark fin trade in other coun8 tries. 

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

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

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

12 purchase shark fins or products containing shark fins. 

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

14 treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of the Magnu15 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

16 (16 U.S.C. 1857) and shall be penalized pursuant to sec17 tion 308(a) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), except that 

18 the maximum civil penalty for each violation shall be 

19 $100,000, or the fair market value of the shark fins in20 volved, whichever is greater. 

21 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. 

22 A person may possess a shark fin that was taken law23 fully under a State, territorial, or Federal license or per24 mit to take or land sharks, if the shark fin is separated 


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1 from the shark in a manner consistent with the license 

2 or permit and is— 

3 (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation; 

4 (2) used for noncommercial subsistence pur5 poses in accordance with State or territorial law; 

6 (3) used solely for display or research purposes 

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

8 under a State or Federal permit to conduct non9 commercial scientific research; or 

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

11 a noncommercial purpose. 

12 SEC. 5. DOGFISH. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be a violation of sec14 tion 3 for any person to possess, transport, offer for sale, 

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

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

17 or Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish). 

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

19 the Secretary of Commerce shall review the exemption 

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

21 to Congress a report that includes a recommendation on 

22 whether the exemption contained in subsection (a) should 

23 continue or be terminated. In preparing such report and 

24 making such recommendation, the Secretary shall analyze 

25 factors including— 


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1 (1) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries 

2 with and without the continuation of the exemption; 

3 (2) the impact to ocean ecosystems of con4 tinuing or terminating the exemption; 

5 (3) the impact on enforcement of the ban con6 tained in section 3 caused by the exemption; and 

7 (4) the impact of the exemption on shark con8 servation. 

9 SEC. 6. DEFINITION OF SHARK FIN. 

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

11 (1) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de12 tached fin of a shark; or 

13 (2) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de14 tached tail of a shark. 

15 SEC. 7. STATE AUTHORITY. 

16 Nothing in this Act may be construed to preclude, 

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

18 or enforce any regulation or standard that is more strin19 gent than a regulation or standard in effect under this 

20 Act. 

21 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

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

23 person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does 

24 not affect other provisions or applications of this Act 

25 which can be given effect without the invalid provision or 


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

2 severable. 


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Calendar No. 325 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 877 

[Report No. 116–173] 

A BILL 

To prohibit sale of shark fins, and for other 

purposes. 

DECEMBER 12, 2019 

Reported without amendment 


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