Key takeaways:
- Hang Hing Herbal Medicine announced 22 bags of processed shark fins as fishbone in 2017.
- The shark fins were announced as fishbone.
- The firm that imported them has been charged $75,000.
The herbal medicine company penalized for unlawful activities:
A Vancouver-based herbal medicine firm has been charged $75,000 for importing fins from a shielded species of a shark without a permit.
Hang Hing Herbal Medicine claimed blameworthy in Vancouver Provincial Court Monday to the offense, which dates before September 2017.
According to Environment Canada, the firm imported a load, including 20,196 processed shark fins — weighing 550 kilograms. The 22 bags of fins were declared as fishbone.
“Wildlife enforcement officers checked the shipment and concluded that the products, proclaimed as fishbone, were, in fact, shark fins,” the federal agency stated in a press release. Source – cbc.ca
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“DNA testing was utilized to decide that the shipment included two species of shark.” Source – cbc.ca
Oceanic whitetip sharks are documented as menaced:
The fines relate only to importing 12,984 fins of Carcharhinus longimanus, or oceanic whitetip sharks, which were listed as a piece of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora at the duration of the offense.
Investigators also determined fins from Carcharhinus falciformis, known as the silky shark, which wasn’t detailed as restricted under the identical treaty till October 2017 — a month after the shipment came.
