The Bill, introduced by Senator Michael MacDonald in 2017, passed by an overwhelming margin by the Senate in late October.

Conservationists, marine scientists, animal welfare advocates, and the family of filmmaker Rob Stewart are calling on the federal government to pass this bill as a matter of urgency.

“Since 2011, five federal Private Members Bills have been introduced that would ban the trade in shark fins; over just these past eight years, nearly one billion sharks have been butchered and killed for their fins,” Julie MacInnes, Wildlife Campaign Manager for Humane Society International/Canada, said in a statement. “The sharks, and the ocean ecosystems that depend on them, do not have another election to wait. We are urging MPs to support S-238 and stop this destructive practice once and for all.”

As noted by the organization, shark finning is the practice of cutting off a shark’s fin and discarding the animal at sea to die a slow and painful death. It is an exceptionally cruel and ecologically reckless practice that puts entire ocean ecosystems at risk.