The Colombian Navy has seized on Sunday a ton of mutilated sharks that were being transported in a boat in the Colombian Pacific, in the province of Chocó, in the northwest of the country.
«A Colombian-flagged fishing vessel named ‘Los Pescadores’, which was crewed by eight people, had sailed from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, to carry out fishing operations,» said Juan David Rendón, commander of the Pacific coast guard.
The agents, after escorting the boat to the dock, found through a detailed inspection a sack with 89 fins and 114 shark specimens weighing a total of 904 kilograms, said Rendón in statements to the Noticias Caracol radio station.
After this finding, the environmental authorities are carrying out investigations to determine the legal actions against the crew members.
The Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, thanked the Navy Coast Guard for their presence. «It is a gigantic illegal traffic and fauna in the world that we have to control, but also through environmental education,» she said.
The Colombian authorities have estimated that 7.4 tons of fishery resources have been illegally extracted by the Navy in the Colombian Pacific so far this year.
