Shark Boat Detained In Protected Area Of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands

May 21, 2008

Release from: EFE News Service

Quito - A fishing boat with a catch of 160 sharks was detained in a protected marine area of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuadorian officials said.

The Galapagos National Park, which oversees the archipelago's marine and land reserve, said the Doña Blanca I was intercepted some 35 nautical miles northeast of San Cristobal Island's Pitt Point.

The park's report said that, with the help of navy sailors, rangers boarded the fishing boat and found the sharks inside the boat's hull and encased in ice.

Blue, silky and thresher sharks were found, as well as swordfish.

In addition to the seized boat, park personnel and navy sailors also confiscated small vessels that were using long-lines fitted with multiple hooks, a type of fishing that is prohibited within the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

The Doña Blanca I, the other boats and the 35 crew members taken into custody in the operation were transported to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, capital of San Cristobal Island and of Ecuador's Galapagos Province.

Although shark fishing is illegal, President Rafael Correa last year legalized the sale of fins of sharks caught accidentally, saying it would help poor fishermen boost their earnings.

Critics of the move say there is no way to determine whether a shark has been caught accidentally or intentionally, and that the lifting of the ban gives fisherman the go-ahead to kill as many of these animals as they can.

The Galapagos Islands are located about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of the coast of continental Ecuador and were declared a World Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978.

Ninety-five percent of the 8,000 square kilometers (a little over 3,000 square miles) covered by the Galapagos Islands is a protected area that is home to more than 50 species of animals and birds found nowhere else on the planet.

The islands were made famous by 19th-century British naturalist Charles Darwin, whose observations of life on the islands contributed greatly to his theory of the evolution of species.