“A Connecticut-shaped loophole.”
photo Kip Evans, Mission Blue
By Jordan Nathaniel Fenster
The Middletown Press Jan 21, 2025
Shark finning is already illegal in the United States, but a bill proposed this year would bring Connecticut in line with its neighbors, and the rest of the nation.
DISCLAIMER: Shark finning does not occur in Connecticut waters and is strongly opposed by Connecticut fishers. The state’s fishing community has long supported conservation efforts and regulations aimed at reducing wasteful practices, including shark finning. Connecticut fishers prioritize responsible fishing methods that align with federal conservation laws and ethical standards.
Shark fin soup allegedly goes back more than 1,000 years, to Emperor Taizu, who ruled China from the year 960 to 976. The popularity of the dish increased over the centuries, and the fins of sharks, particularly the tails and dorsal fins have been considered a delicacy.
Shark fins can sell for as much as $500 a pound, according to Smithsonian, but the rest of the shark is not as prized. So, fishermen often prefer to cut off the sharks' dorsal fins and tails, then throw the still-live shark back in the ocean, rather than keep the bulk of the less valuable shark meat to take up space on the boat.
A Connecticut proposal to ban the practice of shark finning and make illegal the possession of shark fins failed to be approved last year, but state Rep. Joseph Gresko, D-Stratford, has raised the bill again in the hopes of its passage.
The law, Gresko said, would not necessarily stop fishermen from catching sharks, but from cutting the fins and tossing the rest back.
"If you're going to be eating the shark, you're not going to be subject to the infraction," he said. "If you're licensed and permitted to take a shark, you take the fin or the tail off, you have to destroy it immediately so that you don't get tempted to try to sell it on the black market."
From a state law perspective, 13 states prohibit the procurement or sale of shark fins, among them, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. There is, according to Gresko, a Connecticut-shaped loophole in that patchwork of laws.
"There's a federal law out there that says you can't fin," Gresko said. "This Connecticut law codifies our state statutes to match the federal law, much like New York and Rhode Island have already done so."
Federally, shark-related protection began in 1976 with the Magnuson — Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which put management of sharks in U.S. waters into the hands of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In 2000, the act was expanded with the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which "prohibits any person under U.S. jurisdiction from engaging in the finning of sharks, possessing shark fins aboard a fishing vessel without the corresponding carcass, and landing shark fins without the corresponding carcass," according to NOAA.
Then, 10 years later, that law was expanded further, and then again in 2023 with the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act. As per that legislation, possession, acquisition, receipt, transport or sale of shark fins is illegal, as is "any product or derivative of any fin or tail of a shark."
All the legislation has resulted in a steep drop-off of the number of shark fins sold in the United States. Shark fins have not been imported into the U.S. since 2019, and no exports in 2023. Globally, there were 11,995 metric tons of shark fins imported to various countries in 2022, according to a NOAA report.