US retreats from bid to overturn shark fin bans
Source: The Guardian
US retreats from bid to overturn shark fin bans
Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent
theguardian.com, Wednesday 5 February 2014 09.17 GMT
The US federal government has stepped back from its plans to overturn state bans on the sale and possession of shark fins.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said in a statement on Tuesday it had decided against challenging state bans in California, Maryland and Washington.
The agency said it had received written assurances from the three states that the shark fin ban would not interfere with legal fishing for shark meat.
Noaa said it had initially been concerned the state bans could hurt fishermen who caught sharks for their meat, not their fins.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/05/us-retreats-shark-fin-ban