Title: Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019
Policy area: Animals

Summary:
Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019
This bill makes it illegal to possess, buy, or sell shark fins or any product containing shark fins, except for certain dogfish fins. A person may possess a shark fin that was lawfully taken consistent with a license or permit under certain circumstances.
Penalties are imposed for violations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 737 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF SHARK FINS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Except as provided in sections 3 and 4, no person 
shall possess, offer for sale, sell, or purchase any shark fin or 
product containing any shark fin.
    (b) Penalty.--For purposes of section 308(a) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a 
violation of this section shall be treated as an act prohibited by 
section 307 of that Act.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTION FOR TRADITIONAL FISHERIES, EDUCATION, AND SCIENCE.

    Section 2 shall not apply with respect to possession of a shark fin 
that was taken lawfully under a State, territorial, or Federal license 
or permit to take or land sharks, if the shark fin is separated from 
the shark in a manner consistent with the license or permit and is--
            (1) destroyed or discarded upon separation;
            (2) used for noncommercial subsistence purposes in 
        accordance with State or territorial law;
            (3) used solely for display or research purposes by a 
        museum, college, or university, or by any other person under a 
        State or Federal permit to conduct noncommercial scientific 
        research; or
            (4) retained by the license or permit holder for a 
        noncommercial purpose.

SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FOR DOGFISH.

    (a) In General.--It shall not be a violation of section 2 for any 
person to possess, offer for sale, sell, or purchase any fresh or 
frozen raw fin or tail from any stock of the species Mustelus canis 
(smooth dogfish) or Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish).
    (b) Report.--By not later than January 1, 2027, the Secretary of 
Commerce shall review the exemption in subsection (a) and shall prepare 
and submit to the Congress a report that includes a recommendation on 
whether the exemption should continue or be terminated. In preparing 
such report and making such recommendation, the Secretary shall analyze 
factors including--
            (1) the economic viability of dogfish fisheries with and 
        without the continuation of the exemption;
            (2) the impact to ocean ecosystems of continuing or 
        terminating the exemption;
            (3) the impact on enforcement of the ban contained in 
        section 3 caused by the exemption; and
            (4) the impact of the exemption on shark conservation.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Shark.--The term ``shark'' means any species of the 
        orders Pristiophoriformes, Squatiniformes, Squaliformes, 
        Hexanchiformes, Lamniformes, Carchariniformes, 
        Orectolobiformes, and Heterodontiformes.
            (2) Shark fin.--The term ``shark fin'' means the raw, 
        dried, or otherwise processed detached fin, or the raw, dried, 
        or otherwise processed detached tail, of a shark.

SEC. 6. STATE AUTHORITY.

    Nothing in this Act affects any right of a State or territory of 
the United States to adopt or enforce any regulation or standard that 
is more stringent than a regulation or standard in effect under this 
Act.
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