COLOMBIAN AUTHORITIES CONFISCATE LARGE SHIPMENT OF SHARK FINS

Colombian authorities confiscate large shipment of shark fins. Colombian police say they confiscated thousands of shark fins that the smugglers wanted to smuggle into Hong Kong. Shark fin is a valuable dish in Chinese cuisine.

Police said a shipment of 3,493 shark fins had been seized at the airport in the capital of Bogotá. Police launched an investigation on Monday on suspicion of poaching.

It is estimated that the removed fins were between 900 and 1,000 sharks, each 1 to 5 meters long. At the same time, a total of 117 kilograms of fish swim bladders, also prized in Chinese cuisine, were seized.

The shipping company reportedly notified the authorities of the case.

The trading and processing of sharks is prohibited in Colombia.

The authorities said it was highly likely that the seized materials were obtained by poaching. They expressed concern that this practice could cause irreversible damage to the local marine ecosystem.

Vessels, apparently from China, have fished on a large scale off the coast of South America over the past several years. Local ecologists now face the challenge of protecting sharks and other marine species.

Source: dalekayaokraina.ru Подробнее на fishretail.ru: https://fishretail.ru/news/vlasti-kolumbii-konfiskovali-u-kontrabandistov-krupnuyu-426403

Shark finning is the act of removing fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the shark back into the ocean. This act is prohibited in many countries. The sharks are often still alive when discarded, but without their fins. Unable to swim effectively, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and die of suffocation or are eaten by other predators. Shark finning at sea enables fishing vessels to increase profitability and increase the number of sharks harvested, as they must only store and transport the fins, by far the most profitable part of the shark; the shark meat is bulky to transport. Some countries have banned this practice and require the whole shark to be brought back to port before removing the fins.

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