WildAid: Recent Galapagos Busts
On April 6th, eight sacks of shark fins (representing over 1,600 fins) and 1,400 kilos of sea cucumbers were seized in the small town of Naranjal en route to Peru. The truck transporting the illegal produce was followed from Guayaquil and the cargo belonged to Victor Cae, a Korean fin trader. As the fins did not possess proper transportation guides nor monitoring certificates, it was evident that the produce was a result of shark finning. The fins have a value of $30,000 for the fishermen in Galapagos while the sea cumbers over $210,000.
On May 6th, the Environmental Police and the GNPS Wardens seized a shipment of spiny lobsters that were caught during a seasonal moratorium in Galapagos. Three boxes containing 234 lobsters were seized aboard the Taurus, a fuel transportation vessel serving the Archipelago as it arrived in Salinas. The owner of the cargo, a San Cristobal fisherman Daniel Martinez was also later arrested.
The following seizures were made possible through continued support from partners IGTOA, Conservation International, Linblad, Celebrity Expedition among others.