China’s shark finning could lead to US seafood sanctions

Key points

• For migrant workers trapped onboard Chinese distant water fishing fleets, cutting the fins off sharks as they writhe violently on rusted decks in the Indian Ocean isn’t accidental.
• It’s an intentional and lucrative act that marks the start of a bloody half-a-billion-dollar offshore supply chain, tacitly supported by Beijing yet covertly concealed from port inspectors globally.
• The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit focused on the protection of endangered species, filed a formal petition this month requesting the U.S. government potentially sanction China for failing to meet American shark conservation standards.
• Shark populations have declined by more than 70 percent since 1970, with more than one-third of all shark and ray species now threatened with extinction.
• Yet each year, Chinese-flagged vessels catch, brutally fin, and discard thousands.