India Seizes Protected Sharks, Arrests Fishermen

May 19, 2005

Release from: Reuters

CALCUTTA, India, May 19 (Reuters) - Indian authorities have seized the remains of 41 endangered sharks caught in the Bay of Bengal that were destined to be served as delicacies in Calcutta restaurants, officials said on Thursday.

The sharks, weighing 6 kg to 120 kg (13 lb 264 lb), were seized overnight on a swampy island off the coast of the Sunderbans mangrove forest in West Bengal state, of which Calcutta is the capital.

Authorities arrested 14 men in the raid.

"It was after a tip-off that fishermen had caught live sharks. We carried out a raid and seized the sharks but they were dead by then," said Subhendu Banerjee, a divisional forest officer who led the raid.

The species recovered in the raid were whale sharks, tiger sharks and arrow-head hammer head sharks.

Chinese food outlets in Calcutta have dishes prepared from shark meat or fins on their menu, but their owners claim the sharks they serve are not endangered.

The Sunderbans, renowned as one of the world's largest natural habitats of the Bengal tiger, is also home to hundreds of salt water crocodiles and rare river dolphins.

Banerjee told Reuters the sharks are protected under India's Wildlife Protection Act.

A person convicted of killing protected animals, including sharks, can be jailed for up to seven years or fined up to 25,000 rupees ($576), or both.