Last week Ecuador marine authorities detained a Chinese ship illegally carrying 300 tonnes of fish including tens of thousands of sharks and other marine life. This ship was caught within the Galapagos Marine Reserve, a highly protected area of the Galapagos that is home to the highest concentration of sharks in the world.
Identifying Illegal Fishermen
20 crew members have been arrested after authorities found thousands of protected Hammerhead sharks and endangered Silky sharks in the ship’s hold.
However the ship caught within the Galapagos Marine Reserve is not a fishing vessel. It is instead a carrier vessel whose job is to collect catches from illegal fishing vessels and deliver the catch to port. It is being reported that this seizure is the largest ever within the Galapagos marine sanctuary.
The Galapagos Marine Reserve covers more than 51,000 square miles and is part of a marine corridor that many species of sharks use to migrate. Many fishing vessels wait just outside the reserve protected waters which exposes sharks to illegal fishing fleets.
The catch is then illegally sold into Asian markets where endangered sharks have their fins and cartilage used in Asian dishes such as shark fin soup.
After the ship was seized, by aerial monitoring the Ecuador Navy discovered a fleet of approximately 100 fishing vessels in the waters just south of the protected Galapagos Marine Reserve.
Reaction
Outrage has been felt throughout Ecuador and Galapagos that this high amount of illegal fishing is happening in and around the marine reserve.
Protests have been held both inside and outside of Galapagos by residents and visitors showing the passion and distress at the continued destruction and devastation on protected shark populations.
These protests coincided with the Ecuador government’s announcement that it will be suing the company that owns the Chinese ship for $36.8 billion dollars. This amount is based on the long-term impact of the loss of bio-diversity and damage to the environment this haul has caused. The killing of protected hammerhead sharks has a devastating impact on the area’s bio-diversity, the effects of which will take approximately 20 years to recover from for each shark killed. The crew caught onboard are currently on trial in Ecuador and face a maximum 3 year prison sentence.
What Can be Done?
There is a petition you can sign right now through change.org petitioning the United Nations and the Ecuador Government Communications and Chinese Relations departments to increase the prosecution of vessels caught within the Galapagos Marine Reserve and further increase protection of the reserve and its surrounding waters.
Residents are also calling upon Sea Shepherd to begin patrolling the Galapagos Marine Reserve waters as part of their AIS campaign. You can lend your voice to the cause by contacting them through their Galapagos website.
But the most important thing is to spread the word internationally about what is happening. Sharks, fish and all marine species are vitally important for the health of the world and therefore the human population. The imbalance being created by continued killing of endangered species will keep causing extinction and a permanent environmental imbalance that we cannot recover from.
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