Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-27-Speech-3-344"
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"en.20060927.26.3-344"2
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"Mr President, the UK, Germany and Belgium fought very hard to implement a ban on shark finning in 2003. They received wide support in the Council. Spain and Portugal now appear to be the only Member States pushing for an amendment to the regulation in respect of the 5% ratio of fins to live weight of shark catch. They say that the current regulation is unrealistic, particularly for the blue shark, which is the main target of their fishery and which they claim is in great abundance in EU waters. I think the strong international market for shark fins, mostly as we have just heard for the Asian shark fin soup market, coupled with the relatively low value of shark meat, has motivated Spain and Portugal to support this drastic amendment.
It remains a fact that the 5% ratio of fins to live weight contained in EU legislation is the weakest in the world, as Mr Davies told us. The proposal in this report for a 6.5% ratio would quite simply allow more sharks to be killed. It would send all the wrong negative signals to the international community. The higher the ratio, the more likely it is that the illegal practice of finning will recur. That is why I have tabled an amendment which proposes that the figure be lowered to 2% of live weight. That would ensure the protection of sharks in EU waters, increase that protection and fall in line with international standards.
The IUCN, the World Conservation Union, has confirmed that the blue shark is endangered and will be placed on its red list as a vulnerable species when that list is updated later this year. In such circumstances, it would be madness to permit more of these sharks to be killed. Indeed, we should be seeking to impose a strict regime of TACs and quotas on blue sharks to offer the species additional protection."@en1
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