Shark Finning Finally Banned in NZ

The New Zealand government has announced that the killing of sharks just for finning will be completely banned by 2016. Under the plan released today, the first tranche of species would be protected from finning in October this year. All other species except blue sharks would be protected from October 2015. The finning ban would apply to blue sharks from October 2016.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific has welcomed the decision to stop what it sees as a brutal practice, saying the change was helped by over 20,000 of its supporters who made submissions to a New Zealand Government review of shark laws.

“Australians love our oceans and their attitude to sharks is changing, showing a growing interest in shark protection. The public wanted New Zealand to ban shark finning and are now calling on the Western Australian government to drop its ill-conceived plans to cull sharks,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s communications manager James Lorenz said. 

“The blue and short finned mako sharks, which are killed in New Zealand for their fins, are our sharks too, swimming back and forth across the Tasman,” Lorenz said. 

“Australia makes up half of New Zealand’s tourism market and is one of the largest importers of New Zealand seafood. 

“Australians had a powerful voice in the campaign to change New Zealand shark finning laws.

The NZ Government received 45,300 submissions in favor of the ban, over 20,000 of which came in response to Greenpeace Australia’s call for Australians to put pressure on the Key Government.

The new laws mean New Zealand will join around 100 countries and states, including Australia, the EU and US, to ban shark finning.

Globally around 270,000 sharks are killed every day and the trade in shark fins is driving much of this slaughter. This is causing a serious decline in the world's shark populations, and many species are under threat. 

New Zealand is among the world's top 10 nations for killing and exporting sharks and a major exporter of shark fins to Hong Kong. Recently NZ become the biggest exporter of dried shark fins to the United States.