As many as 2,000 sharks have been slaughtered for their fins in the protected waters of Colombia’s Malpelo wildlife sanctuary, government officials say. A team of researchers studying sharks in the region reportedly witnessed a fleet of about 10 fishing trawlers in the waters around Malpelo, a rock island about 500 kilometers from the mainland. “When the divers dove, they started finding a large number of animals without their fins,” said Sandra Bessudo, environmental advisor to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. “They didn’t see any alive.” A Colombian navy ship later reported seizing an Ecuadorian fishing boat containing an illegal catch, including sharks and other species. The remote 8,570-square-kilometer sanctuary — which is home to hammerhead, Galápagos, and whale sharks — attracts illegal fishing boats that trap the sharks and strip their fins, before dropping them back into the water. In Hong Kong, where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy, 22 million pounds of shark fins are traded annually and a bowl of soup can fetch £63.
Trawlers Kill 2,000 Sharks For Fins in Colombian Marine Sanctuary
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