What does Sen. Rubio have against state’s dive industry?

Sharks are in trouble. Their fins are in great demand and they can’t live without them. The fins from up to 73 million sharks enter the shark fin trade every year. This demand contributes to the declines in the populations of many of these magnificent and important ocean predators. Shark finning is the cruel and wasteful practice in which the fins of a shark are cut off the live animal, and its body is thrown overboard. Back in the ocean, gravely wounded and unable to swim, the shark bleeds to death, drowns or is eaten by other animals.

The demand for shark fin soup, considered a luxurious delicacy by some, drives this brutal practice. These shark fins don’t even provide flavor or nutrition to the dish, which makes this practice even more outrageous. While shark finning is illegal in U.S. waters, shark fins continue to be bought and sold here. In an opaque supply chain, it’s virtually impossible to tell if any fin sold in this country came from sharks, which can be landed legally, or from a shark that was brutally finned.

Just last week, Congress was poised to include the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act in an end-of-year package. This bill would have removed the United States from the shark fin trade. But one person blocked it: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Sen. Rubio is on the wrong side of history on this one, and here’s why.

When demand for a product threatens the existence of a species, we ban its trade. The demand for rhino horns and elephant tusks have been pushing those species towards extinction, so the US banned the sale of those products in this country. Sharks should be given the same protection, for the same reasons. And most Americans agree: a recent poll showed that nearly nine out of ten Americans (including eight in 10 Floridians) oppose the practice of shark finning, and about eight in 10 Florida voters support the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.

It’s not just individual voters that recognize the need for a nationwide fin trade ban. Thirteen states, more than 45 airlines, 15 major corporations, including Amazon, Hilton and Disney and 22 shipping companies have all refused to transport or trade shark fins. Nearly 700 businesses — more than a third of them from Florida, including more than 100 dive shops and SCUBA businesses, several aquariums, and Sea World Parks and Entertainment — support the bill. So do more than more than 150 scientists, 150 chefs, 140 fishermen and 85 surfers and surf businesses, who have all sent letters to Congress urging the passage of the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.

Congress listened to them: In November 2019, the House passed the shark fin bill by an impressive bipartisan vote of 310-107, with nearly three-quarters of the Florida House Delegation supporting the bill. Why this overwhelming support? The United States has a moral imperative to reject such an inhumane act as shark finning. But from a practical standpoint, what many supporters of this popular bill recognize, is that sharks in the U.S. are worth more alive in the water, than in a bowl of soup. Sharks keep ecosystems in balance. They are also economic engines. In Florida, the value of shark diving in 2016 was more than 200 times the value of shark fin exports for the entire country the previous year. Shark encounters supported more than 3,700 jobs in Florida, and the total economic impact from shark encounters in the state was more than $377 million. This economic engine runs year after year, but you can only sell a shark fin once. People love sharks, and they will pay good money to see them — much more than that generated from the fin trade, which threatens the future of the shark diving industry.

For all these reasons, many Americans, elected officials, companies and organizations came together to support a bill that would set the U.S. apart as a leader in shark conservation. Shark fin legislation passed the House, and cleared the Senate Commerce Committee. Many senators, from both parties, were ready to pass this bill into law. But at the last minute, despite all the support and the overwhelming benefit to his own state, one senator blocked the bill. If sharks are to have a future — if the dive businesses in his state are to benefit year after year — then we need to end the shark fin trade.

Sen. Rubio knows that Floridians care about their oceans. His decision to quietly block the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act — one of the most broadly supported ocean conservation bills in Congress right now — will cost Florida businesses, for no net economic gain.