I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2811 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2021 

Mr. SABLAN (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. ALLRED, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. 

BEYER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 

BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. 

BROWNLEY, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. CARTER

of Georgia, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. CASE, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. 

COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COOPER, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, 

Ms. DEAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DEUTCH, 

Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. EMMER, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 

GARAMENDI, Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Ms. JACOBS of California, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KILMER, Ms. 

KUSTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LEVIN of 

Michigan, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MACE, Mr. 

MALINOWSKI, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mrs. MCBATH, 

Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. 

MEEKS, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. MOULTON, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. 

NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PENCE, Mr. 

PETERS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, 

Mr. RASKIN, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. RYAN, 

Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. 

DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SIRES, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. 

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

SWALWELL, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. UNDERWOOD, 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILSON

of Florida, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mr. ISSA, and Mr. 

BUCHANAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 


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•HR 2811 IH

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 2021’’. 

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

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

8 and 4, no person shall possess, offer for sale, sell, or pur9 chase any shark fin or product containing any shark fin. 

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

11 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage12 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a violation of this section 

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

14 that Act. 

15 SEC. 3. EXEMPTION FOR TRADITIONAL FISHERIES, EDU16 CATION, AND SCIENCE. 

17 Section 2 shall not apply with respect to possession 

18 of a shark fin that was taken lawfully under a State, terri19 torial, or Federal license or permit to take or land sharks, 

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

21 consistent with the license or permit and is— 

22 (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation; 


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1 (2) used for noncommercial subsistence pur2 poses in accordance with State or territorial law; 

3 (3) used solely for display or research purposes 

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

5 person under a State or Federal permit to conduct 

6 noncommercial scientific research; or 

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

8 a noncommercial purpose. 

9 SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FOR DOGFISH. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be a violation of sec11 tion 2 for any person to possess, offer for sale, sell, or 

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

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

14 acanthias (spiny dogfish). 

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

16 the Secretary of Commerce should review the exemption 

17 in subsection (a) and should prepare and submit to the 

18 Congress a report that includes a recommendation on 

19 whether the exemption should continue or be terminated. 

20 In preparing such report and making such recommenda21 tion, the Secretary should analyze factors including— 

22 (1) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries 

23 with and without the continuation of the exemption; 

24 (2) the impact to ocean ecosystems of con25 tinuing or terminating the exemption; 


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1 (3) the impact on enforcement of the ban con2 tained in section 3 caused by the exemption; and 

3 (4) the impact of the exemption on shark con4 servation. 

5 SEC. 5. INCLUSION OF RAYS AND SKATES IN SEAFOOD 

6 TRACEABILITY PROGRAM. 

7 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

8 of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall revise section 

9 300.324 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, to in10 clude rays and skates in the species and species groups 

11 specified in subsection (a)(2) of such section. 

12 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) SHARK.—The term ‘‘shark’’ means any spe15 cies of the orders Pristiophoriformes, 

16 Squatiniformes, Squaliformes, Hexanchiformes, 

17 Lamniformes, Carchariniformes, Orectolobiformes, 

18 and Heterodontiformes. 

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

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

21 or the raw, dried, or otherwise processed detached 

22 tail, of a shark. 

23 SEC. 7. STATE AUTHORITY. 

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

25 territory of the United States to adopt or enforce any regVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Jun 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811

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1 ulation or standard that is more stringent than a regula2 tion or standard in effect under this Act. 

3 SEC. 8. DETERMINATION OF BUDGET EFFECTS. 

4 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

5 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

6 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

7 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

8 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

9 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro10 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

11 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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