Boat Carrying Tons of Illegal Shark Fins Held by Coast Guard

The Coast Guard announced Friday that it has seized a fishing vessel containing an estimated 20 to 35 tons of illegal shark fins, the largest seizure made under a new law banning the practice of shark-finning.

The 82-foot, Honolulu-based King Diamond II was spotted 350 miles southeast of Acapulco by Coast Guard personnel operating from the Navy destroyer Fife.

After an inspection, Coast Guard personnel took control of the boat, which was brought into San Diego Harbor on Friday escorted by the Coast Guard cutter Tybee.

Two other vessels were seized this week off the American territory of Guam in the Western Pacific as part of a worldwide crackdown, according to Paul Ortiz, senior enforcement counsel for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Under a December 2000 federal law, it is illegal for U.S. fishermen or U.S. vessels to possess shark fins without the carcasses, an attempt to end the practice of killing sharks solely for the purpose of removing their fins.

Shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asia, where a bowl can cost $100. But environmentalists say finning is a cruel and wasteful practice that threatens to devastate the shark population.

Although there are no criminal penalties, fishermen caught with illegal shark fins can face loss of their boat and penalties of $120,000 per violation.

Ortiz said the King Diamond’s captain and four crew members were being interviewed in San Diego through a Vietnamese translator. He said their nationality is unclear.

The Fife was on drug interdiction duty off Mexico when it was diverted to intercept the King Diamond II.

Ortiz said that federal officials had developed information through intelligence sources that the vessel had the illegal shark fins.

He said the vessel is suspected of buying the fins from tuna fishermen. Sharks, he said, are a “by-catch” of tuna; boats use hundreds of hooks at the same time to catch tuna.