Petition Urges U.S. Sanctions on Chinese Seafood Over Shark Finning

U.S. government sanction China for failing to meet American shark conservation standards. U.S. Moratorium Protection Act because it lacks a “fins naturally attached” landing policy. Shark populations have declined more than 70 percent since 1970, and more than one-third of shark and ray species are now threatened with extinction.

The petition states that Chinese-flagged vessels catch, fin, and discard thousands of sharks each year. Official Chinese data for 2023 recorded more than 10,000 blue sharks and nearly 1,700 shortfin mako sharks discarded in the western and central Pacific region alone.

U.S. has required fishers to land sharks with fins naturally attached since 2000. China permits fins to be removed if they do not exceed five percent of the shark’s body weight at landing. The petition contends that ratio-based rules are difficult to enforce and allow protected species to be mixed or discarded.

Alex Olivera, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said inspectors face a “nightmare of a time figuring out which fin belongs to which shark” once fins are separated from bodies. Heidy Martínez, a shark scientist, noted that overfishing and bycatch remain the primary threats to sharks, with finning adding to documented waste.

Interviews conducted by the Environmental Justice Foundation in 2024 and 2026 found that 80 percent of crew members on Chinese distant-water vessels in the Southwest Indian Ocean reported engaging in shark finning. Sixty percent of crew on Chinese squid jiggers in the Southeast Pacific Ocean said they witnessed sharks returned to the ocean without fins.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated that China follows international law and the membership requirements of regional fisheries management organizations. The spokesperson said the government was “not familiar with the specific situation” regarding the petition and did not address shark finning or potential seafood sanctions.