The Colombian Navy has seized this Sunday a ton of mutilated sharks that were transported in a boat in the Colombian Pacific, in the province of Choco, in the northwest of the country.
“A Colombian-flagged fishing vessel named ‘Los Pescadores’, which was manned by eight people, would have set sail from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, to carry out a fishing operation,” reported Juan David Rendon, commander of the Pacific Coast Guard.
The agents, after escorting the boat to the dock, found through a detailed inspection a bag with 89 fins and 114 shark specimens whose total weight was 904 kilograms, Rendon reported in statements to the Noticias Caracol radio station.
Following this finding, the environmental authorities are conducting investigations to determine legal actions against the crew members.
The Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, thanked the presence of the Navy’s coast guards. “It is a gigantic illegal wildlife trade in the world that we have to control, but also through environmental education,” she said.
The Colombian authorities have estimated at 7.4 tons the fishing resources that have been extracted illegally by the Navy in the Colombian Pacific so far this year.
