e-1793 (Certain imported goods)

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled

• Shark populations have decreased by 60-90% in the last 15 years due to the shark fin industry;
• Shark populations take a long time to recover from being hunted as it takes a shark 7-20 years to mature, this leaves ecosystems devastated;
• Shark finning directly violates the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Code of Conduct, yet it is still being practiced all over and as a nation we are supporting that practice by allowing imports;
• Sharks are an apex predator making their role vital to ecosystems by eating the sick and weak fish and controlling populations of other predators keeping biodiversity in aquatic species;
• Sharks shift their preys spacial habitat, thus altering their feeding habits of other species, and by doing so preserve our reef and keep certain species thriving;
• The decline in our coral reef can be associated with the loss of sharks; and
• With the last bill being passed in the 1990’s to ban shark finning in Canada, we need to stay current with the threat to our ecosystems and aquatic wellbeing and stop supporting the shark fin industry by banning imports of fins.