Letter to my Representative

The Honorable Bob Filner
333 F Street, Suite A
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Dear Representative Bob Filner:
I am writing to express my concern over the cruel fishing practice known as shark-finning. This act is inhumane, wasteful, and if we continue to harvest sharks at the rate we are, the oceans ecosystem will be in trouble. Sharks have been around since even before the dinosaurs, and have been the ocean’s top predator for millions of years. Their disappearance would create a large gap at the top of the food-chain. You see, sharks aren’t just crazy killing machines; they keep many creatures that would otherwise wreak havoc in check. If they died off, these species’ populations would grow rapidly, and many different prey fish would decline just as swiftly. Fish that would, say, clean algae off of reefs, would be consumed by the larger fish that prey upon them, and reef systems would suffer. The same thing would occur in many other marine habitats; but not only that, our own food supply would begin to suffer.

The root of this problem is the increased demand for the Chinese delicacy, shark-fin soup. Sharks fin is alarmingly high priced, while the rest of the meat is dirt-cheap. This has lead fisherman to simply remove the fin, and dump the rest of the still living shark back into the ocean to die by drowning or bleeding to death. This act has lead to the sharp decline in shark populations the world over, some places being down over 90%; and poachers don’t differentiate between endangered and non-endangered species, or whether or not they’re on a marine reserve for that matter. As I said, this is a global issue, and while we can’t really do anything to keep the Chinese from consuming their soup (other than pressuring them to find an alternative), we can lead by example in regulating the shark-finning market.

As you know, California has the second longest coastline of any western/pacific state, meaning that the ocean is a major part of many of its citizens’ lives; and I think it is our job to do our best to protect it. In the U.S., it was recently made illegal to fin sharks at sea (which closes a few loop-holes of the previous bill), while foreign-registered ships are not allowed to harvest shark fins in the US Exclusive Economic Zone. This was an excellent step further in limiting the damage done to shark populations, but I believe that it should be taken further. I now propose that, along with the current regulations, no us-registered vessel should be allowed to fin sharks unless they have a permit that says they may do so, as well as limiting how many sharks may be harvested per year by any one vessel. Any vessel caught with sharks, or their fins, on board without a permit should face a serious fine (preferably one that would outweigh the possible profits that could be made off the fins), if not jail time.

Sincerely,
Matthew Cunningham
590 East H Street # 152
Chula Vista, CA