Shark finning continues despite EU ban, says report (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News

Loopholes in EU regulations mean that illegal shark finning is continuing undetected, a report warns.

Finning involves cutting off a shark's fins and throwing the rest of the carcass back into the sea - a practice that the EU has regulated since 2003.

Marine experts are calling on the EU to stop issuing special permits that allow fishermen to remove fins at sea.

The authors say almost a fifth of shark, skate and ray species are classified as threatened.

"The waste and unsustainable mortality associated with finning pose threats to shark populations, fisheries, food security and the sustainability of marine ecosystems," said co-author Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group (SSG).
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11951562




The nature of the loophole is pretty incredible ... someone was very careless with simple arithmetic.