The California State Assembly just overwhelmingly approved a禁止鲨鱼鳍的销售和分销within the state moving California one step closer to joining Washington in making the Chinese delicacy illegal. After approving the proposed bill , known as AB376, by a vote of 62-8 this afternoon, the bill now moves to the Senate and if approved, would make the sale and distribution of shark fins illegal starting Jan. 1, 2013.
该法案在双方都不是没有争议的。在中国，在汤和其他食物中使用鲨鱼鳍是一种美味佳肴，有人认为该禁令是一种种族主义，反对中国美国人的传统。另一方面，New York Times reports that 73 million sharks are killed为了他们的鳍和尾巴。实践shark finninginvolves the removal of the fins and tail while the shark is still alive, then the body is dumped back into the ocean where the sharks will die.
The excessive harvest could lead to a catastrophic collapse in global shark populations. California State Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) authored the controversial bill and said, “I knew when I accepted the responsibility (of authoring this bill) – I weighed the cultural implications versus the environmental concerns, and the environmental issues outweighed the cultural. This is like a house of cards – once we lose the top predator we will watch the rest of the ocean collapse.”
议员迈克·英格（Mike Eng）（D-to-to-to-to-to-to-Monterey Park）指出，加利福尼亚目前颁发的许可证允许渔夫每年合法杀死数千只鲨鱼。“如果鲨鱼是一种濒临灭绝的物种，并且是从国外非法进口的，那么为什么不在加利福尼亚开始并禁止在加利福尼亚州拿走鲨鱼呢？”他说。“这不公平地针对一个社区，我代表的一个社区。……这使公平问题质疑。”
Just 10 days ago,华盛顿禁止鲨鱼鳍作为州长克里斯·格雷戈尔（Chris Gregoire）签署的立法，禁止在华盛顿州出售，贸易或分配鲨鱼鳍或衍生产品。夏威夷和关岛已经通过了类似的措施，在俄勒冈州也考虑了一项拟议的措施。
In a recent study, a team valued the life of a shark alive at nearly $2 million for tourism and dive-related revenue on ashark reef in Palau.
[通过SF Gate]
