The court’s denial doesn’t mean the injunction will stay out of the courts completely, but it’s a great first step to strengthening the ban that prevents shark fins to be sold and served in restaurants in California.

AB 376 was introduced at the Academy nearly two years ago and passed both houses with support from the Asian-American community, WildAid, Shark Stewards and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Governor Jerry Brown signed it into law in the fall of 2011.

The injunction was filed last summer by Bay Area organizations concerned with discrimination against Chinese-Americans, loss of income, and lack of proof that consuming shark fins actually endangers all species of sharks.

In Judge Hamilton’s decision, she addressed all of their concerns as she denied their claims. From the court order:

Plaintiffs’ own evidence shows that only a small percentage of Chinese-Americans eat shark fin soup regularly, and that approximately half of Chinese-Americans actually support the Shark Fin Law…

As for plaintiffs’ claim that the Law does nothing to protect sharks, the evidence provided by the defendant-intervenors and by amici provides strong support for defendants’ contention that the Law is intended to protect and conserve sharks and the marine ecosystems dependent on them by means of regulating local market conditions, which laws targeting the actual practice of shark finning in domestic waters alone do not address.

The “amici” Judge Hamilton refers to is the amicus curiae, in this case a brief written by McCosker, providing scientific evidence to the importance of all sharks and the harm that comes to them from shark finning. From that document:

Shark populations throughout the world’s oceans have dramatically decreased in recent years. One study estimates a decrease of 90% or more in shark populations, from their historical abundance… The rate of population decline for sharks has become more rapid during the last decade, due to the increasing value of shark fins.

In fact, the Pew Charitable Trust estimates that up to 73 million sharks per year are killed, primarily for their fins.

Beyond losing the sharks, McCosker detailed their importance to the larger ocean ecosystem in the brief:

As apex predators, sharks play an important ecological role. In particular, shark predation keeps populations of prey species in check, maintaining balance in marine ecosystems.

Before the ban was implemented, California was the second largest importer of shark fins, behind China. Banning shark fins worldwide still has a long way to go—last week new images surfaced of thousands of fins drying on Hong Kong rooftops and the Huffington Post ran a passionate argument to ban shark fin products in New York. But as McCosker says, it’s an important step in the right direction.

Image: Steve Corey/Flickr

Academy scientist John McCosker describes a healthy, tropical shallow coral reef as an intricate network of shape, motion, and color. “The variety, amount, and numbers of coral, fish and invertebrates is impossible to describe,” he says. “It’s visually overwhelming.” In contrast, a reef damaged by dynamite, poison, or other methods of excessive resource extraction, appears as an ash-gray scar of calcium carbonate rubble along the ocean floor.

McCosker knows the difference first-hand. He made his first dive in the tropical Indo-Pacific with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1972 in the vicinity of Raja Ampat. Recently, he accompanied Terry Gosliner, the Academy’s Dean of Science and Research Collections on a scouting expedition to Northwestern Papua in Indonesia. “There is no comparison between a healthy coral reef and one that’s been dynamited,” says McCosker. “That said, Raja Ampat remains one of the least inhabited and most pristine areas of the Coral Triangle.”

Many are working to keep it that way. The trip, explains Gosliner, is an initial step in what will be a five-year collaboration with the government of Indonesia, LIPI (the Indonesian Institute of Sciences), Conservation International, Papuan Indonesian scientists, educators and local fisherman. The Academy will work with Papuan residents to provide baseline documentation and training that will strengthen their effort to monitor and protect their newly formed marine sanctuaries.

Gosliner is working to complete a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Indonesia that will identify marine sites off of Birds Head peninsula where Academy scientists and their partners will document the biodiversity of those coral reefs.

Academy scientists will use the same methodology employed during the 2011 Hearst Philippines Biodiversity Expedition. Gosliner hopes the five-year effort will also settle an ongoing question among scientists—exactly where is the richest part of the ocean? “Some say it’s the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines,” Gosliner says, “others say it’s Raja Ampat. We hope to gather enough data to compare the two areas.

“Coral reefs are actually far more resilient than people realize,” says Gosliner. “We’ve seen transformation of once-decimated reefs into productive, recovering ecosystems. The key is to work with the local population to adopt sustainable practices. We will survey the biodiversity. But it’s just as important to build relationships with Indonesian scientists.”

The Academy, Gosliner explains, is not a newcomer to the issue of sustainability. “It’s been part and parcel of what we’ve done throughout our entire history. But we’re stepping up our efforts because the issue is so urgent and the challenges we face today are so great.”

Barbara Tannenbaum is a science writer working with the Academy’s Digital Engagement Studio. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Magazine and many other publications.

Image: Terry Gosliner