Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding.

I rise in support of this bill to help end the inhumane practice of shark finning. After a shark's fins are removed, these majestic creatures are thrown into the ocean to die, and multiple species face extinction.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, Congressman Sablan, for his courageous leadership to introduce this bill, which I strongly support.

The United States banned shark finning. Now we must end the shark fin trade. Major retailers, airliners, and shipping companies refuse to ship or sell shark fin products. And 12 states, including my home State of Texas have bans on shark fin trading. It is time for a Federal ban, Mr. Speaker.

The United States led in ending the trade of trafficking ivory and rhino horns, and now we must lead in the shark fin trade itself.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to end and close with a personal thanks to my wife, Linda, who is an oceanographer who spent many years serving our country in Naval intelligence tracking Soviet submarines, and now she tracks sharks by tagging sharks and following them around the world as they exist.

As she told me when she returned from Guadeloupe Island, on the very same boat that Peter Benchley went out on as he saw the majestic great white shark, in his words, he says that the greatest regret of his life was writing the book ``Jaws.''

I thank Delegate Sablan, and I thank my wife, Linda, for great testimony before this committee. I stand in strong support, and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us on this momentous day.

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