A PETITION containing 50,000 signatures against brutal fishing practices has been presented to the European Parliament.

The petition, collected at Scarborough Sea Life Centre and Marine Sanctuary, North Yorkshire, is calling for an end to shark-finning, and was presented to EU Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler.

Shark-finning involves the fins being cut from living sharks, which are then thrown overboard to die.

The fins are used in the Orient for soup and for medicinal use.

Scarborough Sea Life displays curator Paul Bullimore said: "Unless sharks are given greater protection quickly, the whole ocean ecosystem could be damaged, with potentially disastrous results."

Legislation to limit the amount of sharks being killed was passed last year.

However, opponents of finning said the laws were watered down by the commercial fishing lobby and were useless.

Liberal Democrat MEPs Chris Davies and Elspeth Attwooll joined the delegation to support calls for a tightening of the laws.

Mr Fischler invited them and Sea Life marine biologist Mark Steward to discuss the issue in detail.

In total, 300,000 signatures were collected from Sea Life centres in eight European countries.