HomeNewsBriefIndustrial-scale 'Shark Finning' in Ecuador
BRIEF

Industrial-scale 'Shark Finning' in Ecuador

ECUADOR / 28 MAY 2015 BY MICHAEL LOHMULLER EN

Officials in Ecuador have reported a large number of shark fins seized over the past month, a development that suggests an industrial-scale practice of “shark finning" along the country's coastline, feeding a booming Asian market.

On May 27, Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office, through its official Twitter account, announced over 100,000 shark fins had been seized during nine raids by authorities in the city of Manta, a figure that reportedly represents more than 30,000 sharks captured and killed.

However, Jose Serrano Salgado, Ecuador’s Minister of Interior -- also sending updates via Twitter -- said the number of shark fins seized was approaching 200,000. “We have to stop these criminal networks that only care about money and are destroying the environment,” Serrano tweeted along with images of the confiscated fins.

According to the Attorney General, five people have so far been arrested, with authorities also uncovering shark hunting tools and chemicals for preserving the fins.

Ecuadorian law prohibits shark finning -- whereby the fins of sharks are cut off and their bodies dumped back into the ocean -- but in 2007 President Rafael Correa added an exception for sharks caught “incidentally.”

InSight Crime Analysis

The gruesome practice of shark finning has been seen in other Latin American nations with significant shark populations in their coastal waters, and it has continued apace despite outcries from conservation groups over its negative environmental effects resulting in several countries banning the practice.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Eco Trafficking

Fueling this illicit trade has been demand in Asia, where dried shark fins -- used to make “shark fin soup” -- can sell for $700 per kilo. The Ecuadorian fishing port of Manta has been known to be one of the most important sources in Latin American for shark fins being exported to Asia to feed this market.

Nonetheless, despite its illegality, fisherman and other criminal entrepreneurs have clearly been able to continue the practice, exploiting loopholes and ambiguities in regulations in order to take advantage of high prices and potential for large profits.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 1 SEP 2023

The dismissal of top security officials in the Brazilian state of Amazonas suggests corruption could complicate Lula’s battle to save…

BRAZIL / 7 FEB 2023

A new report points out how the success rate in fighting money laundering across Latin America varies widely from country…

COCAINE / 18 NOV 2022

Ecuadorean prison authorities quietly released Dritan Rexhepi, Albania's most notorious cocaine trafficker, last year.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…