II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 793 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

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

PETERS, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. WICKER, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. PORTMAN, 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 Trade 

5 Elimination Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Sharks are critically important species for 

9 their economic, cultural, and ecosystem value. 


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1 (2) Many shark populations are in peril world2 wide and are on the decline. 

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

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

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

6 global shark fin trade every year. 

7 (4) Shark fins have no medicinal or nutritional 

8 value. 

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

10 on large coastal and pelagic species that grow slowly, 

11 mature late, and have low reproduction rates. 

12 (6) Shark fins are often removed and retained 

13 while the remainder of a shark is discarded due to 

14 the high market value of shark fins relative to other 

15 parts of a shark. 

16 (7) Shark fins are removed primarily to be com17 mercialized as a fungible commodity. 

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

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

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

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

22 a slow death. 

23 (9) Although the United States has banned the 

24 practice of shark finning aboard vessels in waters 

25 controlled by the United States, there is no Federal 


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

2 fin is brought ashore. 

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

4 body, it becomes impossible to determine whether 

5 the shark was legally caught or the fin lawfully re6 moved. 

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

8 shark a fin was removed from, which is problematic 

9 because some species are threatened with extinction. 

10 (12) The States of Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Il11 linois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, 

12 Rhode Island, California, and Washington and 

13 American Samoa, Guam, and the North Mariana Is14 lands have implemented bans on the sale of shark 

15 fins. 

16 (13) Shark fins possessed, transported, offered 

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

18 States are part of a large international market, hav19 ing a substantial and direct effect on interstate com20 merce. 

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

22 United States will remove the United States from 

23 the global shark fin market and will put the United 

24 States in a stronger position to advocate internationVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:07 Apr 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S793.IS S793

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1 ally for abolishing the shark fin trade in other coun2 tries. 

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

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

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

6 purchase shark fins or products containing shark fins. 

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

8 treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of the Magnu9 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

10 (16 U.S.C. 1857) and shall be penalized pursuant to sec11 tion 308(a) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), except that 

12 the maximum civil penalty for each violation shall be 

13 $100,000, or the fair market value of the shark fins in14 volved, whichever is greater. 

15 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. 

16 A person may possess a shark fin that was taken law17 fully under a State, territorial, or Federal license or per18 mit to take or land sharks, if the shark fin is separated 

19 from the shark in a manner consistent with the license 

20 or permit and is— 

21 (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation; 

22 (2) used for noncommercial subsistence pur23 poses in accordance with State or territorial law; or 

24 (3) used solely for display or research purposes 

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


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1 under a State or Federal permit to conduct non2 commercial scientific research. 

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITION OF SHARK FIN. 

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

5 (1) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de6 tached fin of a shark; or 

7 (2) the raw or dried or otherwise processed de8 tached tail of a shark. 

9 SEC. 6. STATE AUTHORITY. 

10 Nothing in this Act may be construed to preclude, 

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

12 or enforce any regulation or standard that is more strin13 gent than a regulation or standard in effect under this 

14 Act. 

15 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

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

17 person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does 

18 not affect other provisions or applications of this Act 

19 which can be given effect without the invalid provision or 

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

21 severable. 

Æ 


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