Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-238. This is my first opportunity to speak as the critic of a bill. On this occasion, I would like to mention that, in my humble opinion, I consider this role more like a debate facilitator than a critic.

First, I would like to recognize the work of Senator MacDonald, the sponsor of Bill S-238, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (importation of shark fins), more commonly known as the "ban on shark fin importation act."

I believe it is an important piece of legislation. I am in full agreement with the principle behind Bill S-238. The protection of wildlife and global ecosystems is essential to human survival. I hope that debate on this bill will help us to increase awareness of the importance of habitat conservation and species preservation and further entrench these protections in law.

But for now the bill is about sharks, so let us learn more about them.

Sharks play an important role in marine habitats and have done so in the global oceans for hundreds of millions of years. They are apex predators, a species at the top of their food chain. Sharks are a key predator, controlling populations of smaller sharks and fishes. As an example, the loss of large shark populations in the North Atlantic, where they effectively managed the ecosystem, has caused a steep decline of bivalve fisheries, including scallops, clams and oysters.

The disappearance of apex predators, such as sharks, through human activity in recent years has had a major impact on ecosystems and the health of marine and global habitats. While sharks are an ancient species, they are by no means primitive. The earliest known evidence of the existence of sharks is from the Silurian period, 420 million years ago. Modern sharks have been swimming in our oceans since the Triassic and Jurassic periods 200 million years ago.

To use the analogy of the geological clock, if the 4.5-billion-year history of Earth were condensed into one year, the first sharks appeared on November 26, well before us humans.

Humans are a very young species, inflicting dramatic changes to the co-inhabitants of this planet. Sharks are a much older species, and they have thrived in the ocean. It is only in the past century that the demand for shark fins for cultural reasons has caused these important predators to be overfished to the brink of extinction.

Sharks use their fins to propel themselves through the water. If they do not, they will sink. Indeed, most species of sharks are ram ventilators, which means they must swim fast in order to pass water through their gills and breathe. Imagine: After being pulled out of the water, the shark's fins are sawed off with a hot serrated blade. Then the shark is thrown back in the ocean where it cannot propel itself through the water, and thus it cannot breathe. It is left to sink slowly to the bottom of the ocean and die, or be torn apart by scavengers.

The Wildlife Conservation Society estimates 25 per cent of shark species are under the threat of extinction from overfishing. It is worth noting that not only are sharks affected by overfishing, but related cartilaginous fishes including rays, skates and chimaeras are also vulnerable.

Bill S-238 is one step in protecting sharks from the global practice of shark-finning by banning the importation of shark fins into Canada. It would be difficult to find a good counterargument to this bill, on principle. But this is just a start in protecting one species from a practice that is leading to its extinction. In terms of protecting species threatened with extinction, where do we end?

[Translation]

The demand for animal products resulting from customs and cultural celebrations has led humans to disseminate several species of flora and fauna based on the belief that humans can derive power and new abilities from certain animals. These beliefs are not rooted in science.

(2050)

Hundreds of rhinoceros are hunted and killed for their horns every year and all five rhinoceros species are endangered. Anti-poaching efforts have helped to boost the population slightly, but rhinoceros are still threatened with extinction.

Every year, 150 million seahorses are fished. Seahorses might become extinct within the next few decades.

Closer to home, although it is legal to hunt black bears with a permit, they are still poached for their paws and gallbladders.

[English]

These aforementioned animal products are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which means they cannot be imported into Canada. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, lists 5,000 animal species and 29,000 plant species, yet, illicit trade continues worldwide.

Driven in part by an increasingly richer middle class in many emerging economies, the demand for these products is a global conservation crisis. As a result, a myriad of species, including sharks, are in danger of extinction.

Organizations working to eliminate shark finning face a number of challenges. As with many things in life, there are two sides to any situation. For example, in Indonesia, which is a major shark and ray fishing country, many people depend on shark finning for their livelihood. Organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society are "working with fishers to explore alternative livelihood options."

One challenge in the global shark fin trade is to create systems that ensure responsible consumption of shark products, including fins, meat and other shark and ray products which come from legal, well-managed and sustainable fisheries.

Another challenge is to reduce demand by increasing awareness that consumption of shark fins has no nutritious value or special properties, that their use in cultural activities is based only in belief. This can only be accomplished through education.

A more responsible shark trade must be balanced to ensure people who rely on this industry have a way to make a living from either sustainable shark fishing or another trade. If not, demand may drive the trade of shark fins to the black market, and shark populations may continue to decline.

Therefore, I ask: What is being done to help people around the world who work in the shark fishery to adapt their skills to sustainable shark fishing or other sustainable fisheries? Is it realistic to implement a sustainable shark fishery that transcends international, regional and national borders?

[Translation]

There are no easy answers to these questions. However, we will keep asking them through the important work being done on these issues, such as the work done by the late Rob Stewart, whose documentary Sharkwater highlighted the shark's role in the ocean, as well as the need for a global conservation effort. His work has brought the issue of shark finning to the public's attention, which has helped raise awareness and educate people around the world. We now have a better understanding of what is happening to these creatures and why it is so important to protect and conserve these species.

[English]

According to the Global Sharks and Rays Initiative 2015 report, a lack of data on shark biology and their populations provides a challenge in monitoring and protecting shark populations.

Sharks are found globally and migrate across international waters. Shark fisheries have multiple centres of demand — for example, East Asia — and complex flows of shark products are difficult to trace between different countries, regions and continents, especially where regulations controlling the trade vary. Conservation efforts, where practised, are, unfortunately, fragmented and poorly resourced.

A 2016 study showed that since 2003, the number of sharks that have been caught has dropped by approximately 20 per cent. This decrease, however, is not due to a decrease in the shark fishing; rather, it is due to an overall decline in global shark populations from overfishing. Clearly, this terrible statistic shows that overfishing is also having a significant impact on shark species in the oceans, which constitutes a negative cumulative impact on shark populations.

Other ecological problems contribute to the decline of sharks. Bycatch is the "catch of non-target fish and ocean wildlife" in longlines, trawls and gillnets. Not only sharks but whales, dolphins, seals, turtles and birds are killed as bycatch. According to OCEANA, bycatch may account for up to 40 per cent of global catch, estimated at almost 30 billion kilograms per year in 2014.

Like with many species of sharks, bycatch is either poorly monitored or not monitored at all, leading to inaccurate estimates of protected species which are drowned or injured in nets or longlines in the course of fishing activities. In the 1990s, an estimated 12 million sharks and rays were killed as bycatch each year in international waters. This figure excludes the 100 million sharks killed for their fins every year.

[Translation]

What can be done to stop the decimation of shark populations through bycatch and finning? The Global Shark and Ray Initiative presented a report underscoring the biggest challenges and objectives for shark and ray conservation. Although there isn't a single strategy that applies to the conservation of various species, efforts must be made to target species at risk, study the populations for which we have little data, try to change the demand for shark products, encourage responsible trade practices, and most of all, raise public awareness and increase education.

[English]

Bill S-238 raises the very important issue of stopping the practice of shark finning by banning imports of shark fins into Canada. However, it also raises several other issues: Does the ban on shark finning go far enough? Can we expand its scope to cover other cartilaginous fishes, such as rays, which may also be targeted? How do we protect sharks and other sea creatures, including sea turtles, dolphins, seals and seabirds from bycatch?

We must increase our efforts to protect marine life, ensuring the preservation of biodiversity in our oceans which is under threat from human activity and climate change.

[Translation]

June 8 was World Oceans Day. We should have marked the occasion in the House and in the Senate. Even though it comes a few days late, I hope that my speech has given the day its due.

[English]

I will end with a quote from the book Last Chance to See, by authors Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. They travelled around the world in search of species threatened with extinction due to the activities of man.

It's easy to think that as a result of the extinction of the dodo, we are now sadder and wiser, but there's a lot of evidence to suggest that we are merely sadder and better informed.

This is a bleak vision for the future of biodiversity. Let's prove it wrong.