1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Shark Sales Elimination Act of 2019”.
Shark Sales Elimination Act of 2019
A BILL
To prohibit the sale of shark parts, and for other purposes.
2. Prohibition on sale of shark parts
Prohibition— Except as provided in section 3, no person shall possess, offer for sale, sell, or purchase any shark part or product containing any shark part.
Penalty— For purposes of section 308(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a violation of this section shall be treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1857).
3. Exemption for traditional fisheries, education, and science
Section 2 shall not apply with respect to possession of a shark part that was taken lawfully under a State, territorial, or Federal license or permit to take or land sharks, if the shark part is separated from the shark in a manner consistent with the license or permit and is—
destroyed or discarded;
used for noncommercial subsistence purposes in accordance with State or territorial law; or
used solely for display or research purposes by a museum, college, or university, or other person under a State or Federal permit to conduct noncommercial scientific research.
4. Definitions
In this Act:
Shark— The term “shark” means any species of the orders Pristiophoriformes, Squatiniformes, Squaliformes, Hexanchiformes, Lamniformes, Carchariniformes, Orectolobiformes, and Heterodontiformes.
shark part— The term “shark part” means any shark or raw, dried, or otherwise processed detached part of a shark.
5. State authority
Nothing in this Act affects any right of a State or territory of the United States to adopt or enforce any regulation or standard that is more stringent than a regulation or standard in effect under this Act.