Air NZ shark fin ban puts heat on govt, fishing industry
Thursday 27 June 2013 – Wellington
Air NZ shark fin ban puts heat on government, fishing industry
Forest & Bird and Greenpeace are congratulating Air New Zealand on its decision to stop freighting shark fins.
“Our national airline, which trades on New Zealand’s clean green reputation, clearly sees that transporting shark fins doesn’t fit with its environmental values, and is therefore a major risk to its brand,” says Katrina Subedar, Forest & Bird Marine Conservation Advocate.
“But just as the trade is a threat to Air New Zealand, it’s also a threat to New Zealand. It’s high time that the government acted to protect our green-marketing edge, and put an end to this disgustingly wasteful practise.
“Shark finning is hugely wasteful, and is putting the very survival of several shark species at risk,” Katrina Subedar says.
Under New Zealand law, it is legal to catch a shark, kill it, cut off its fins, and dump its unused body overboard.
Both
Greenpeace and Forest & Bird are members of the New Zealand
Shark Alliance (1), which is calling for a ban on shark
finning, by requiring that sharks be released alive or
brought to shore with their fins naturally
attached.
“Many Pacific countries are way ahead of our
government on this. For example, Palau created the world's
first large-scale shark sanctuary in 2009,” says
Greenpeace New Zealand’s Karli Thomas.
Representatives
from seven of the eight political parties in Parliament
signed a pledge in November last year committing their
support for a law change to ban shark finning in New
Zealand. However, the National Party refused to sign the
pledge.
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have both
recently announced that they will no longer carry shark
fins. Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Air Pacific – which is
currently rebranding to Fiji Airways – have made similar
commitments, but which leave some potential loopholes.
"We would like to see all airlines adopt watertight policies, as transporting any shark fins from the Pacific region risks involvement in an unsustainable, if not illegal, trade," Karli Thomas says.
“The longline fishing fleet in the Pacific is huge and poorly controlled. There are virtually no stock assessments of shark species, pirate fishing is rife, catches are often transferred from one vessel to another at sea, and most vessels have no fisheries observer on board,” says Karli Thomas.
New Zealand is one of the world’s top 20 exporters of shark fins.
“Our national carrier has said “no” to carrying shark fin exports – it’s now time for the Government to do what it should have done long ago, and ban shark finning from New Zealand waters, full stop,” says Karli Thomas.
ENDS