Chinese vessel intercepted at the Galápagos with 6,600 sharks on board
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Among the confiscated sharks are several endangered species, including the hammerhead shark. The crew members have already been convicted.
Chinese vessel intercepted at the Galápagos with 6,600 sharks on board
Among the confiscated sharks are several endangered species, including the hammerhead shark. The crew members have already been convicted.
A vessel sailing under a Chinese flag was intercepted on 13 August near the island of San Cristóbal, in the Galápagos archipelago. On board, more than 6,600 shark carcasses were found, among which were specimens of endangered species, including the hammerhead shark.
300 tonnes of fish found in total
As many as 300 tonnes of fish were recovered from the hold of the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999. This was reported by the international press, which explains that a sentence has already been handed down against the crew members who were arrested on board: sentences of up to four years' imprisonment were imposed by Ecuadorian justice. In particular, the ship's captain was granted no mitigating circumstances: the judges applied the maximum penalty provided for crimes against flora and the trafficking of protected species. Together with the captain, three other officers and sixteen sailors, all Chinese nationals, were also convicted.
What gave the crew away was the decision to pass without permission through the Ecuadorian archipelago, whose waters a vessel of that kind (98 metres in length) is not permitted to enter. The area, classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site, is protected by the world's largest marine nature reserve, which extends over no fewer than 138,000 square kilometres.
La Justicia impuso prisión y multa de USD 5,9 millones a tripulación del Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999. Se decomisó el barco » bit.ly/sntnciaBuq
The sharks are believed to have been offloaded from two Taiwanese vessels
According to information provided by local authorities, it is likely that the shark cargo arrived on the Chinese vessel having been offloaded from two Taiwanese boats. The transfer is said to have taken place between 5 and 7 August, "more than a thousand kilometres from the Galápagos Islands". The Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 was supposed to pass through the archipelago and then set course for Peru, before returning to China.
#Galapagos : des Chinois sont détenus pour pêche illégale. Ils avaient notamment pris des requins marteaux protégés. franceculture.fr/emissions/jour…
In recent days, residents of the Ecuadorian islands have been demonstrating against the presence of around 300 Chinese fishing vessels in the adjacent international waters. Over the past three years, the crews of 17 other vessels have been convicted of the same type of crimes attributed to the crew of the Chinese ship, confirming that illegal fishing and the trafficking of protected species still represent a particularly lucrative criminal business — and a dangerous one for the balance of ecosystems.