Ecuador Fights Shark Fishing In Galapagos

March 20, 2005

Release from: United Press International

QUITO, Ecuador - The government of Ecuador is promising tougher enforcement to prevent illegal shark fishing off the Galapagos Islands.

Sharks around the ecologically protected islands off the Ecuadorian coast are hunted by fishermen who see a lucrative business in exporting their prized fins.

The government already patrols the Galapagos Island waters, but announced during the weekend it will increase surveillance in response to reports by environmental groups that most of the 200,000 sharks caught last year were hunted in that area.