1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2017 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Sharks are critically important species for their economic, cultural, and ecosystem value. (2) Many shark populations are in peril worldwide and are on the decline. (3) One of the greatest threats to sharks is the global trade in shark fins. It is estimated that fins from as many as 73,000,000 sharks end up in the global shark fin trade every year. (4) Shark fins have no medicinal or nutritional value. (5) The trade in shark fins is primarily focused on large coastal and pelagic species that grow slowly, mature late, and have low reproduction rates. (6) Shark fins are often removed and retained while the remainder of a shark is discarded due to the high market value of shark fins relative to other parts of a shark. (7) Shark fins are removed primarily to be commercialized as a fungible commodity. (8) Shark finning is the cruel practice in which the fins of a shark are cut off on board a fishing vessel at sea. The remainder of the animal is then thrown back into the water to drown, starve, or die a slow death. (9) Although the United States has banned the practice of shark finning aboard vessels in waters controlled by the United States, there is no Federal ban on the removal and sale of shark fins once the fin is brought ashore. (10) Once a shark fin is detached from the body, it becomes impossible to determine whether the shark was legally caught or the fin lawfully removed. (11) It is difficult to determine which species of shark a fin was removed from, which is problematic because some species are threatened with extinction. (12) The States of Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, California, and Washington and American Samoa, Guam, and the North Mariana Islands have implemented bans on the sale of shark fins. (13) Shark fins possessed, transported, offered for sale, sold, or purchased anywhere in the United States are part of