19 October 2011

Shark massacre in a marine wildlife sanctuary

As reported in The Guardian:
Colombian environmental authorities have reported a huge shark massacre in the Malpelo wildlife sanctuary in Colombia's Pacific waters, where as many as 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and whale sharks may have been slaughtered for their fins...
"I received a report, which is really unbelievable, from one of the divers who came from Russia to observe the large concentrations of sharks in Malpelo. They saw a large number of fishing trawlers entering the zone illegally," Bessudo said. The divers counted a total of 10 fishing boats, which all were flying the Costa Rican flag.
"When the divers dove, they started finding a large number of animals without their fins. They didn't see any alive," she said. One of the divers provided a video that shows the finless bodies of dead sharks on the ocean floor.
The sanctuary covers 8,570 square kilometres of marine environment that provides a habitat for threatened marine species – in particular sharks. Divers have reported sightings of schools of more than 200 hammerhead sharks and as many as 1,000 silky sharks in the protected waters, one of the few areas in the world where sightings of short-nosed ragged-toothed shark, known locally as the "Malpelo monster," have been confirmed. In 2006 Unesco included the park on its list of World Heritage sites...

Colombia's navy sporadically patrols the waters and maintains a small outpost on the 1.2 square metre island, which is 36 hours from the nearest port. 
Scum.

Photo via animals, animals, animals.

p.s. - one has to admire the resourcefulness of the Colombian navy for maintaining an outpost on an island that small...

7 comments:

  1. Hed should read "Columbian" sted "Caribbean," right?

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  2. Thanks! I accidentally carried the word "Caribbean" in my head from the other post about the vertical shark in a trance. This report is from the Pacific.

    Fixed. Tx for the heads-up.

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  3. Merciful lord. No punishment would avenge these types of crimes. Worse than human genocide IMO. At least our species isn't at risk or endangered.

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  4. I suggest that anyone caught engaging in this barbarity should have their arms and legs cut off before being thrown overboard. See how THEY can swim like that.

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  5. I agree with Robb! What's wrong with people? There is no justification for such action!

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  6. Colombian actually, not Columbian. One is south american, the other north.

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  7. I posted my comment about this horrifying massacre to the story about the shark "whisperer" above, but I'll repeat it here: I think that a rumor spread to the fools who believe that shark fins have some sort of magical power, a rumor stating that one bowl of shark fin soup will cause life-long impotence, would end this practice faster than any law enforcement effort.

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