Current situation: the original Proposal (document 11547/02) would prohibit the removal of shark fins on board vessels except under certain circumstances, by special fishing permit, and only if fins and partly processed carcasses were retained on board and landed together with the fins not exceeding 5% by weight of the total weight of remaining parts of sharks after evisceration. This is modeled on the Finning Act that governs shark fisheries in the Western North Atlantic and which has been accepted by the fishing industry in this regions.

Numerous amendments have been proposed by Environment and Fisheries Committees and the Commission. The Environment Committee amendments would strengthen the Regulation by minimising removal of fins on board vessels (a requirement in Australian shark fisheries) and improve associated fisheries monitoring and management measures. Some amendments would significantly weaken it, by increasing the original 5% ratio of fin to carcass weight to a ratio not supported by scientific data and by permitting separate landings of fins and carcasses, thus making the Regulation unenforceable at landing sites. This would allow illegal finning and discard of shark bodies at sea to continue virtually unchecked.

Course of action: although amendments that strengthen the proposed regulation would be most welcome, it is at essential that any compromise approach should at least retain the provisions in the original draft: namely a ratio of fins to other parts of the shark landed that does not exceed 5% by weight, and the requirement that all detached fins must be landed together with the other parts of the shark, so that this ratio can be verified by inspectors at landing points.