Ban on Possession, Sale, Trade Distribution of Shark Fins

WHEREAS the population of sharks, an important apex predator in our ocean ecosystems, is plummeting around the world largely due to harvesting of sharks for their fins; AND WHEREAS harvesting of sharks for their fins is an international conservation crisis as one-third of all shark species is threatened with extinction: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM call upon the British Columbia provincial government to help protect an endangered species that is essential to the sustainability of our global ecosystem by enacting provincial legislation to ban the possession, sale, trade and distribution of shark fins.