Municipal Governance and Innovative Shark Conservation Efforts: Problems and Prospects

• Author: Cameron Jefferies & Eran Kaplinsky
• Pages: 135-158

135

 

Municipal Governance and Innovative Shark

Conservation Efforts: Problems and Prospects

Cameron Jeeries & Eran Kaplinsky

A. INTRODUCTION

With the recent ruling from the International Court of Justice ordering

Japan to stop its Antarctic whaling program, all eyes continue to look to

international law as the primary mode of promoting marine conserva-

tion. This chapter considers the potential of smaller-scale regulatory in-

itiatives by examining the capacity of Canada’s municipal governments

to promote animal welfare and conservation through the use of by-laws.

It will focus on the City of Toronto’s ban on the sale of shark f‌ins and the

judicial battle that led to Toronto’s by-law being invalidated in Eng v To-

ronto (City).

The chapter proceeds as follows. Section B outlines the pressing need

for shark conservation and describes several emerging initiatives on this

front. Section C considers the role of municipalities in protecting animals,

presenting the case for local regulation and assessing the legal power of

municipalities to act in the area. Section D analyzes the Eng decision in

context and considers its impact on current and future municipal con-

servation eorts. Section E concludes with several observations, the chief

 Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan: New Zealand Intervening), Judgment

of  March , online: International Court of Justice www.icj-cij.org. See also

Chapter .

  ONSC , Spence J [Eng].

136     

of which, perhaps, is that despite its frailties, the municipal response ap-

pears to have contributed to shark conservation in ways that transcend

by-law ecacy or legality.

B. SHARKS AND SHARK CONSERVATION

Sharks are cartilaginous f‌ish that have evolved over the last  million

years. There are over  known species, many of which are f‌ished for

— among other reasons — sport, their meat, and, in some cases, their f‌ins.

All told, some  million sharks are taken from the world’s oceans each

year. As a result of this intense hunting, seventy-four species of sharks

are currently threatened with extinction.

The practice that attracts the most media and conservation attention

is the cruel and wasteful act of shark f‌inning — “removing the f‌ins from a

deceased shark and dumping the carcass back into the ocean or slicing

the f‌ins o a live shark and then leaving the helpless shark in the ocean

to drown, starve to death, or be eaten by other predators.” Shark f‌ins are

highly prized for shark f‌in soup, a traditional Chinese dish associated

with status and prestige that is oen served at banquets, weddings, and

 Boris Worm et al, “Global Catches, Exploitation Rates, and Rebuilding Options for

Sharks” ()  Marine Policy  at .

 World Wildlife Fund, “Sharks,” online: WWF www.panda.org.

 Examples of this include the spiny dogf‌ish harvest o Canada’s West Coast and

the porbeagle shark harvest in Atlantic Canada. See Fisheries and Oceans Canada,

National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (Ottawa:

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Communications Branch, ) at – [DFO, Na-

tional Plan]; Cameron Jeeries, “Think Globally, Act Locally: How Innovative Do-

mestic Eorts to Reduce Shark Finning May Accomplish What the International

Community Has Not” ()  U Haw L Rev  at  [Jeeries, “Think Globally,

Act Locally”].

 See Worm, above note  at  (indicating that  million in the year  and 

million in the year  ref‌lect a “conservative estimate,” with the range of annual

catch being somewhere between  to  million).

 See IUCN Red List, “Table a: Red List Category Summary for All Animal Classes

and Orders” at Chondrichthyes, online: IUCN www.iucnredlist.org; International

Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN Redlist Categories and Criteria Ver-

sion ., d ed () at –, online: IUCN data.iucn.org.

 Jessica Spiegel, “Even Jaws Deserves to Keep his Fins: Outlawing Shark Finning

Throughout Global Waters” (–)  Boston College Int & Comp L Rev 

at .