Galápagos sharks under threat

Written by staff reporter Thursday, 08 May 2008 00:00

The repeal of Decree 2130 did include a proviso that it only applied to sharks caught accidentally, but with no means of distinguishing between targeted and by-catch sharks that proviso is pointless.

The waters around the Galápagos Islands were excluded from the repeal, and shark fishing remains illegal there, but it has given the poachers a way of landing their shark catch on the mainland, and thus a huge incentive for increased shark-fishing activity within the World Heritage Site. An earlier study by Wild Aid had already revealed that around 80 per cent of the sharks and fins being landed in Ecuador originated from the Galápagos Marine Reserve.

Before President Correa’s decision, Ecuador had led the world in shark protection and had also banned the brutal and wasteful practice of finning live sharks. But last June, before the decree was repealed, an operation conducted by the Ecuadorian Environmental Police, with the assistance of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, confiscated about 19,000 shark fins, many of which were reckoned to originate from the Galápagos National Park. And last year, the World Heritage Committee put the Galápagos on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger List.

It is urgent that President Correa reinstates Decree 2130 and supports the vigorous policing of the waters around the Galápagos Islands before this extraordinary place is damaged beyond repair. A polite request to President Correa to do this can be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , with a copy to Environment Minister Marcel Aquinaga on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Ecuador is making a big push to become a worldwide tourism destination, so an email to Tourism Minister Veronica Zion, on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , explaining the high value of sharks in drawing dive tourists and your concern at the repealing of Decree 2130, would also be helpful.

Here in the UK, one of our native sharks, the spiny dogfish or spurdog, is now under serious threat, with a decline of more than 95 per cent in northeast Atlantic populations. Yet it is still for sale in fish and chip shops across the country, sold under the pseudonym of rock salmon or flake. Protection for this critically endangered fish is poor and it was refused a listing under CITES last year. The Shark Trust is conducting a survey of the nation’s estimated 13,000 fish-and-chip shops to discover how common its sale is, so check out your local chippy menu and let the Trust know whether it’s there or not. Go to www.sharktrust.org , and click on the ‘Shark Campaigns’ section.

At the other end of the scale, many of the country’s top Chinese restaurants are still selling shark fin soup, despite all the publicity about the shark fin trade causing such a rapid decline in global shark populations. The TV chef Ken Hom is a highly respected restaurateur, and in the past his businesses have made it clear that they are ‘ethical and responsible’. So, I would ask him to have a look at the situation and use his influence as consultant to the Oriental Restaurant Group – which includes restaurants such as Imperial City in London and Gatwick Oriental at Gatwick airport – to advise it that it’s desirable to stop promoting a dish that is causing a worldwide conservation disaster. Ken Hom can be contacted on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

FACT
When targeted by fisheries, shark populations decline rapidly as most species mature late, grow slowly and have very few pups.