I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 737 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 23, 2019 

Mr. SABLAN (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. 

BONAMICI, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. 

CRIST, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 

GARAMENDI, Ms. HILL of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Georgia, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KATKO, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. 

KINZINGER, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MITCHELL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RYAN, Mr. 

SCHWEIKERT, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SOTO, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. 

TITUS, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. 

VELA, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. AGUILAR, 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. GOMEZ, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To prohibit the 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF SHARK FINS. 

2 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in sections 3 

3 and 4, no person shall possess, offer for sale, sell, or pur4 chase any shark fin or product containing any shark fin. 

5 (b) PENALTY.—For purposes of section 308(a) of the 

6 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage7 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a violation of this section 

8 shall be treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of 

9 that Act. 

10 SEC. 3. EXEMPTION FOR TRADITIONAL FISHERIES, EDU11 CATION, AND SCIENCE. 

12 Section 2 shall not apply with respect to possession 

13 of a shark fin that was taken lawfully under a State, terri14 torial, or Federal license or permit to take or land sharks, 

15 if the shark fin is separated from the shark in a manner 

16 consistent with the license or permit and is— 

17 (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation; 

18 (2) used for noncommercial subsistence pur19 poses in accordance with State or territorial law; 

20 (3) used solely for display or research purposes 

21 by a museum, college, or university, or by any other 

22 person under a State or Federal permit to conduct 

23 noncommercial scientific research; or 

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

25 a noncommercial purpose. 


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1 SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FOR DOGFISH. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be a violation of sec3 tion 2 for any person to possess, offer for sale, sell, or 

4 purchase any fresh or frozen raw fin or tail from any stock 

5 of the species Mustelus canis (smooth dogfish) or Squalus 

6 acanthias (spiny dogfish). 

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

8 the Secretary of Commerce shall review the exemption in 

9 subsection (a) and shall prepare and submit to the Con10 gress a report that includes a recommendation on whether 

11 the exemption should continue or be terminated. In pre12 paring such report and making such recommendation, the 

13 Secretary shall analyze factors including— 

14 (1) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries 

15 with and without the continuation of the exemption; 

16 (2) the impact to ocean ecosystems of con17 tinuing or terminating the exemption; 

18 (3) the impact on enforcement of the ban con19 tained in section 3 caused by the exemption; and 

20 (4) the impact of the exemption on shark con21 servation. 

22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

24 (1) SHARK.—The term ‘‘shark’’ means any spe25 cies of the orders Pristiophoriformes, Squatini26 formes, Squaliformes, Hexanchiformes, LamniVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H737.IH H737

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1 formes, Carchariniformes, Orectolobiformes, and 

2 Heterodontiformes. 

3 (2) SHARK FIN.—The term ‘‘shark fin’’ means 

4 the raw, dried, or otherwise processed detached fin, 

5 or the raw, dried, or otherwise processed detached 

6 tail, of a shark. 

7 SEC. 6. STATE AUTHORITY. 

8 Nothing in this Act affects any right of a State or 

9 territory of the United States to adopt or enforce any reg10 ulation or standard that is more stringent than a regula11 tion or standard in effect under this Act. 

Æ 


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