THIS week, the Humane Society of the United States is giving Humane Legislator of the Year awards to four lawmakers who have joined together to advance one of the most urgent animal protection measures in the U.S. Congress. This comes at a time when bipartisanship can be unpredictable in politics. Yet, four lawmakers have joined together to advance one of the most urgent animal protection measures in the Congress, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.
The Humane Society of the United States is honoring Senate bill leads Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and House bill leads Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, D-Northern Mariana Islands, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, as 2021 Legislator of the Year awardees.
“As the representative of an island-based community, Congressman Sablan is uniquely attuned to the danger and wastefulness of the shark fin trade. A decade after the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands banned this trade, he is leading the fight to do so at the federal level,” said Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act has been passed by both chambers of Congress and has a record of strong bipartisan support. There is no reason that Congress can’t pass this bill and permanently take a bite out of the shark fin trade this year.”
For the House bill leads, the connection to the shark fin trade is still more personal. Delegate Sablan represents the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth whose residents have a deep stake in ocean health and sharks’ contributions to it. When the Northern Mariana Islands banned the sale of shark fins in 2011, it was among the first U.S. territories or states to do so. Shark protection is also a way of life for Rep. McCaul, whose wife Linda Mays McCaul is an oceanographer and shark conservationist who testified in support of the bill in the 116th Congress.
This week’s blog by Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States talks about the four lawmakers and their dedication of the legislation. The blog details how the legislators each share a clear vision of shark protection as part of a broader responsibility to prevent cruelty to these animals and ensure the integrity of ocean ecosystems.
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan
