Today, a proposal from the European Commission to adjust the current regulation on shark finning was debated in Council. The changes put an end to derogations from the current shark finning ban which allows some vessels to remove fins onboard and it was agreed that the Council supports this.
Earlier this year, the Commission proposed changed to the current legislation that would stop the current possibilities to hand out special permits that allow fishermen to cut off shark fins at sea and land them separately from the bodies. This is possible under a derogation to Regulation (EC) 1185/2003, which requires the EU fleet to land sharks with their fins still naturally attached. Portugal and Spain are the only EU Member States still issuing these special permits.
In the Fisheries Council, a qualified majority in favour of the proposal was reached this morning, with only the Spanish and Portuguese delegations working against. Their stand was also clearly reflected in an earlier debate in the European Parliament.
Please see links and documents below for more information.