The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a formal petition urging the U.S. government to sanction China over its failure to meet American shark conservation standards. If enforced under the Moratorium Protection Act, this could lead to a total ban on $1.5 billion worth of Chinese seafood imports.
Chinese distant-water fishing fleets are accused of systematically capturing sharks, cutting off their fins, and throwing the mutilated animals back into the ocean to die a slow death.
The U.S. strictly mandates that fishers bring sharks to port with their “fins naturally attached” to prevent illegal finning. China, however, relies on an easily manipulated ratio-based loophole (fins cannot exceed 5% of the shark’s total body weight upon landing), making enforcement nearly impossible.
Highly lucrative trade is driven by demand in East and Southeast Asia for shark fin soup and traditional medicine, with Hong Kong serving as the global trading hub. Beyond the ecological devastation of declining shark populations—which have plummeted by over 70% since 1970—the Chinese distant-water fleets are linked to severe secondary crises:
Investigations by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) revealed horrific conditions for crew members, including forced labor, beatings, squalid living quarters, and fatal accidents.
Sharks are highly vulnerable to overexploitation due to their slow growth and low reproduction rates. Millions are killed annually, often snagged as unintentional bycatch in massive fishing nets and longlines.
“Losing sharks wouldn’t just be an ecological disaster; it would be a profound moral failure… The point of the petition is to make shark conservation standards real, not optional.” — Alex Olivera, Senior Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity
The Chinese Embassy defends its international fishing practices, stating that Beijing is committed to science-based conservation and the protection of workers’ rights. The embassy claimed no specific knowledge of the petition or the impending threat of sanctions.
