NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday has been hailed by shark lovers as an important step in preserving the apex predators and the ocean ecosystems they inhabit.

Brown's office reported on Friday that he signed AB 376, by Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), which bans the possession and sale of shark fins in California, effective January 2012.

“The practice of cutting the fins off of living sharks and dumping them back in the ocean is not only cruel, but it harms the health of our oceans,” said Gov. Brown. “Researchers estimate that some shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent, portending grave threats to our environment and commercial fishing. In the interest of future generations, I have signed this bill.”

By banning the possession and sale of shark fins, California joins Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and Guam in an effort to reduce demand and protect shark populations.

Shark finning is illegal in the United States, but current federal laws banning the practice do not address the issue of the shark fin trade, so shark fins are imported to the U.S. from countries with few or even no shark protections in place, according to an Oceana report.

The practice of “finning” for culinary purposes has led to substantial declines in shark populations worldwide, according to groups like Defenders of Wildlife and Oceana.

Kim Delfino, Defenders of Wildlife's California Program Director, said in a Friday statement that 73 million sharks are killed annually just for their fins.

Oceana called shark finning a “cruel and wasteful practice” in which the shark's fins are sliced off while at sea and the remainder of the animal is thrown back into the water to die. Without fins, sharks bleed to death, drown or are eaten by other species, the group reported.

In recent decades some shark populations have declined by as much as 99 percent, according to Oceana. That, in turn, destabilizes the ocean's food web and results in other species' decline.

While many countries have already banned the practice, it continues unabated in unregulated international waters, the Governor's Office reported.

Defenders of Wildlife, one of the groups supporting the bill, said its members sent 47,000 messages in support of the shark fin ban to California's lawmakers.

Susan Murray, Oceana's senior Pacific director, called Friday “a landmark day for shark conservation around the globe.”

She said the actions taken by West Coast legislatures and governors “sends a strong message that the entire US West Coast will no longer play a role in the global practice of shark finning that is pushing many shark species to the brink of extinction.”

In addition to AB 376, Gov. Brown on Friday also signed a companion bill by Assemblyman Fong, AB 853, which allows existing stocks of on-hand shark fins to be sold until July 1, 2013.

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