As a result, they are slow to mature, taking up to twenty-five years to reach sexual maturity and producing only a few offspring. These characteristics contribute to making them vulnerable to massive pressure from commercial fishing and slow to recover from overfishing. Accordingly, I propose that we completely end the practice of shark finning at sea and heavily regulate shark hunting. Fishermen would no longer be allowed to cut fins and then throw sharks back into the water. Instead, they would have to bring the entire shark back to port and use the entire body. Only a certain number of sharks could be killed each year and only certain species that are not yet threatened with extinction could be caught. Sharks caught outside of regulations must be released immediately into the wild. These measures will help ensure the health of our oceans by protecting sharks.