The European Parliament removed exceptions to the EU ban on “shark finning”, the practice of cutting off fins and dumping carcasses at sea.
MEPs voted by a large majority the report that supported the proposal from the European Commission, that prevented fishermen to dispose of carcasses at sea, but at the same time made it easy to hide any infringements allowing to land fins and carcasses in different ports.
Many shark species are vulnerable to overexploitation. In recent years, some shark stocks have been overfished and are now at risk for the increase in demand for products, especially the fins. To date, the largest number of permits for finning has been issued for the Spanish and Portuguese fleets.
Shark Alliance, Parlamento europeo (29/11/2012)