NDP MP Fin Donnelly introduced a private member's bill Thursday that would ban the import of shark fins in Canada. "If you want to get at shark finning, which is what many would understand as a very inhumane practice, then this [import ban] is one of the best ways to get at it," Donnelly, the NDP's fisheries and oceans critic, said at a news conference in Ottawa.
Shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese dish often served at weddings, is a major source of demand for the product. Shark finning, which involves removing the fin from a living shark and then tossing its body back into the ocean to die, is already illegal in Canadian waters, but there is no law to prevent importation. Some municipalities have already taken steps in this direction - Toronto banned the sale of shark fins in October.
Canada imports around 77,000 kilograms of fins each year, a relatively small amount compared to the rest of the world. Between 26 million and 73 million shark fins are traded annually, and Donnelly said some species of sharks simply cannot reproduce fast enough to replenish their numbers.