US Fish and Wildlife Service officials seized 18 boxes of dried shark fins at PortMiami in late January. The shipment, estimated to be worth up to $1 million, was believed to have originated in South America and was en route to the Far East, to be turned into shark fin soup and other products. Shark
Read moreOn World Oceans Day (June 8) the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, which would prohibit the sale, purchase, and possession of shark fins in the United States, passed the Senate as part of the United States Innovation and Competition Act (S 1260). Although shark finning—the act of removing the fins at sea and discarding the
Read moreAfter four decades in the fight to end commercial whaling worldwide, Kate O’Connell, senior policy consultant for AWI’s Marine Life program, is on a first-name basis with virtually every major player impacting the cetacean protection movement. Friend or foe, they can’t help but like her. She has been known to berate fishing industry representatives in
Read moreAWI is once again attending two key seafood industry events: Seafood Expo North America in Boston in March and Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona in May. Among the world’s largest seafood industry trade shows, these events draw tens of thousands of attendees from more than 150 countries. The expos provide us with an opportunity to
Read moreThree recent studies highlight the enormous impact that shark fishing and the demand for fins continue to have on global shark populations, as well as the difficulties inherent in efforts to stem illegal trade in fins and protect vulnerable species. Law enforcement’s ability to identify the species of landed sharks once fins are processed is
Read moreThe Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to learn that Obi Sushi restaurant, located in Northern Virginia’s Reston Town Center, has retracted their decision to sell shark fin soup and other shark dishes. AWI President Cathy Liss said, “This is great news and it’s a perfect example of the importance of being an educated consumer.
Read moreThe Animal Welfare Institute has sent letters of warning to restaurants in major cities that offer shark fin soup on their menus. In addition, the organization is working to expand its campaign from Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco to the entire nation. “The movie Jaws may have encouraged beachgoers to
Read moreToday, the US House Committee on Natural Resources voted in favor of H.R. 5741, the Shark Conservation Act of 2008. Introduced by Subcommittee Chairwoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), the measure will reinforce the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which was signed into law in 2000. Since the original bill’s passage, the cruel and wasteful practice of shark
Read moreYesterday, the House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of H.R. 5741, the Shark Conservation Act of 2008. Introduced earlier this year by Subcommittee Chairwoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), the measure tightens the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which was signed into law in 2000. Later in the day, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) introduced S. 3231, an
Read moreThe Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to announce that the Ivory Mandarin Bistro in Tampa, Florida has decided to stop serving shark fin soup. Restaurant owners Steve Sritrairasri and Jeffrey Wu made the decision after receiving information from AWI about the inhumane and wasteful manner in which shark fins are acquired and the overfishing
Read moreA commission under the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) released a report yesterday confirming that Mexico’s unwillingness to enforce its own wildlife protection, trade, and fisheries laws...
In this op-ed for the Tampa Bay Times, Dr. Naomi Rose, AWI’s senior scientist in marine mammal biology, discusses the challenges in caring for orcas...
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and an international coalition of animal protection and environmental groups are calling on Yahoo! Japan and its parent company, the...
Japan and Norway resumed slaughtering whales this month, while Iceland’s only fin whaling company has decided that it will not hunt this summer, citing a...
