Shark fin ban on shaky ground: report 0
(24 HOURS FILE PHOTO)
A regional shark fin ban in the Lower Mainland simply won’t float due to a lack of legal teeth, according to a Burnaby city staff report cautioning against a prohibition on the sale of the Chinese delicacy.
But Vancouver city Coun. Kerry Jang — who introduced a motion last fall calling for a co-ordinated shark fin ban between Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby — said a “patchwork” approach where individual cities enact their own ban isn’t ideal.
“The federal government, quite frankly, won’t take up this issue, the province won’t take up this issue,” he said. “It’s been left to the cities to do it on their own.”
The Burnaby report states, however, a co-ordinated ban with Vancouver and Richmond would be too impractical, and the city lacks the authority to outlaw the sale of shark fins or seize samples in the event of a bylaw violation.
Instead, it calls on federal and provincial authorities to support a ban, noting NDP MP Fin Donnelly introduced a private members bill in Ottawa in 2011 to stop shark fin importation.
Even if Richmond and Burnaby don’t have the legal authority to enact bans, Jang said Vancouver is governed by it own unique charter giving it “some powers” to limit the sale of certain items.
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