Case library · The Black Market
Fins Without Bodies
United States v. Hamada Suisan Co. (2020)
Charge: Lacey Act / shark finningCourt: U.S. District Court, D. HawaiiState: HawaiiDocket: The Black Market
Is a vessel's owner answerable for shark fins that its crew carried off the boat in their own luggage?
The facts
A longline vessel's crew cut the fins from about three hundred sharks and dried them on deck without the carcasses, in plain view of the captain and the fishing master. Among them were threatened oceanic whitetips and silky sharks. Ten crew members later flew out of a Pacific island airport, and screeners found roughly nine hundred and sixty fins, weighing a hundred and ninety pounds, in their checked bags.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: United States v. Hamada Suisan Co. (D. Haw. 2020)
Read more at justice.gov. The source reveals the outcome.