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CNMI champions shark protection
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Posted on Dec 30 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
If there’s one thing that shone a positive international spotlight on the CNMI in 2011, it was the signing of a law that made the Commonwealth the first U.S. territory to ban shark finning.
Shark finning is the removal and retention of shark fins and the discarding of the rest of the fish.
Former lieutenant governor and former speaker Diego Benavente championed the cause after picking up the idea from Hawaii. In turn, the CNMI inspired Guam to also push for passage of a similar bill.
Benavente, who stepped down as a member of the House of Representatives six months after his shark fin ban bill became law on Jan. 27, said his legislation will make a difference not only in the lives of CNMI people but also the people in other parts of the world by helping to protect sharks and the marine environment.
Within minutes of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s signing of Benavente’s bill, major international animal conservation groups such as Shark Savers, Humane Society International and WildAid lauded the CNMI.
The CNMI’s shark finning ban law followed suit behind Palau’s creation of a shark sanctuary in 2009, Hawaii’s law banning all shark products in 2010, and President Obama’s enactment of the Shark Conservation Act on Jan. 4, 2010.
The CNMI also joined the Maldives and Raja Ampat, Indonesia in protecting sharks.
CNMI Public Law 17-27 prohibits possession, selling, offering for sale, trading, or distributing shark fins in the CNMI but allows catching of sharks for subsistence or non-commercial purposes.
Restaurants in the CNMI, however, were given up to 90 days from Jan. 27 to serve shark fin soup, sell or offer for sale shark fins. By end April, it’s already illegal to do so. To date, authorities have yet to report whether any entity has already been caught or sanctioned as a result of the shark protection law.
Every year, up to 73 million sharks are used in shark fin soup and the trade has been the major factor in the decimation of global shark populations.
