Shark finning banned in north-west Atlantic

WWF, together with Defenders of Wildlife and the Ocean Conservancy, have welcomed a decision adopted by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) to ban shark finning.

The new measures will apply to international groundfish and shrimp trawl fisheries in the north-west Atlantic Ocean, offering additional protection to several shark species, including the basking and dogfish sharks.

Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing because they grow slowly and produce few young. The World Conservation (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group (SSG) estimates that finning