Shark Fin Trade Thriving in Latin America, Despite Promises of Progress
On paper, Latin American governments are fighting back against the shark fin trade. In reality, the massacre continues.
Fishing vessels are harvesting smaller marine species in Ecuador as the demand for fishmeal is drawing the attention of illegal fishermen.
The consequences of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are immediate and enormous across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Dozens of dead fishermen have been unloaded at Uruguay's Montevideo port. Vessels that dock there have been alleged to engage in abuse at sea.
Floodlights from Chinese fishing boats illuminate the darkness off Argentina’s Atlantic Coast, where the armada harvests tons of squid.
Middlemen in Chile control sales of merluza, a white-fleshed fish for which there is a large appetite.
Ecuador is a hotspot for landing massive amounts of shark catch, and the nation is among the world’s biggest exporters of shark fins.
A Yucatán community has formed a defense group to protect its local lobster population as illegal fishing causes numbers to fall.
The installation of a radar tower on Costa Rica’s Cocos Island heralded a new era for curbing illegal fishing in one of the world’s most biodiverse ocean regions.
Guyana claims some 42,800 square nautical miles of ocean. Enforcement capabilities extend to just a fraction of the country's waters.
Jamaican fishers, largely ungoverned, are taking what they can from the country’s waters, while foreign vessels poach lobster and conch.
When the Chinese fishing fleet was discovered near Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, its vessels were not all flagged to China. Some flew Panama’s flag.
A black market for fishing licenses is flourishing in Suriname. Fishers from Guyana rent them from boat owners for a few thousand dollars.