Support a Ban on Shark Fins!

Dear Mayor Robertson and Council,

I appreciate your time in considering this important bylaw to ban the sale, consumption and possession of shark fins.

75 - 100 million sharks are killed every year, mostly for shark fin soup.  Experts predict that in 10 - 20 years sharks will be extinct if this rate of slaughter continues.  Shark finning or "harvesting" requires the shark's fins to be cut off while it is still alive and then the animal is thrown back into the ocean to drown to death, which can take days, or get eaten by another animal; 95 % of the shark's body is wasted.  Shark fins also contain high levels of mercury which adds a human health concern to the severe animal cruelty and unsustainable fisheries issues.      

Sharks have been in the oceans for 450 million years and removing this important predator will have devastating effects on the ocean's already fragile ecosystem.  This ecosystem gives us more than 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe on land.  If we do not take measures now to save important animals such as sharks, human beings will also suffer grave consequences.

A uniform bylaw to ban the commercial sale, possession and consumption of shark fins in Vancouver, and all municipalities in Metro Vancouver must be created and passed in order to take an important step in protecting sharks, which in turn will protect the future of human life and other species on earth.

Thank you,

Rebecca Applegarth