The Galapagos National Park Service reported this weekend that
the National Judicial Council has suspended the Chief Criminal
Justice for Galapagos for 90 days as a result of the lawsuit filed
by the Galapagos National Park Service, for release FER MARY I
boat, caught last year while fishing illegally in the Galapagos
Marine Reserve.
On July 18, 2011, the National Park speedboat Sea Ranger
2, captured the fishing boat FER MARY I and six small
accompanying outboard skiffs, while it was completing fishing
operations within the protected 20 miles of the Galapagos Marine
Reserve. In its holds, the Park Service personnel
encountered a total of 379 sharks, a protected species in
Galapagos.
The Park Service had initiated the appropriate administrative and
criminal actions to sanction this infraction. During the
judicial process, the Chief Criminal Justice for Galapagos, Jorge
Cabrera, decided to declare invalid the criminal process, resulting
in the release of the arrested crew of the FER MARY I.
This was the second time that Mr. Cabrera had made this kind of
ruling. An earlier case involved the REINA DEL CISNE, also
captured with 65 sharks in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Such
decisions completely undermine the very heavy investment in
patrolling the Galapagos Marine Reserve, and send the wrong
messages to the large industrial fishing interests that there are
few repercussions for fishing illegally in the reserve.
Since these decisions affected the natural rights to conservation
of biodiversity in the Galapagos Islands and its Marine Reserve,
explicitly enshrined in the Ecuadorian Constitution, the Galapagos
National Park Service decided to file a complaint with the National
Judiciary Council, requesting that this body take action.
The Galapagos National Park Service was very pleased to learn of
the decision of the National Judiciary Council - and so is CNH
Tours. Though only a first step, CNH Tours hopes that
the judiciary in Galapagos will begin to take environmental
infractions more seriously. It's only by sending a clear,
firm message to those considering contravening the law will they
think twice before doing so.
The Galapagos Marine Reserve is one of the few remaining places
in the oceans where one can see large schools of hammerhead sharks,
and where sharks in general fully occupy their ecological
niche. The global appetite for shark fin soup (mostly
by the Asian communities, largely Chinese) has led to a huge
reduction in shark numbers worldwide, often illegally, as
unscrupulous fishermen do what they can to harvest this illegal
catch. Fortunately, there are signs of an
increasing awareness in the shark fin consumer community that
things should change - though the road ahead is still long!
