shark
Texan game rangers have discovered an illegal fishing net off the coast that had trapped and killed up to 3,000 adult and juvenile sharks. The nets were discovered close to the Mexican border lying just off South Padre Island.
“About 3 miles of gill net was removed just past the third sandbar near the mouth of the Rio Grande,” the Parks and Wildlife Department said in a statement. “The nets were running north to south, catching anything that attempted to get into shallow water.“
The sharks that got caught up in the net included black tip, bonnet head and sharp nose sharks.
Growing number of illegal fishing in US waters.
There is a growing incursion of Mexican fishermen entering United States waters as the fish and sharp populations in Mexican waters have been devastated by fishing. With Mexico only being a few minutes away the illegal fishermen regularly move into US water to lay their nets. This incident though is by far the worst discovery for the number of sharks killed.
“This is by far the most sharks I have ever gotten in one load,” Texas Parks and Wildlife Sgt. James Dunk told local KGBT.
Shark fins fetch $600 per kg.
Illegal fishing for sharks is big business with the current price of shark fins being around $600 a kilogramme – it’s much more profitable than fishing for many other species of fish such as tuna. Once the fins are removed the rest of the sharks body is dumped as it has very little value.
This latest incident follows on from previous nets discovered in the region. The illegal fishing undermines current shark conservation programmes. Even sharks that are not endangered would find it difficult to recover locally from losses of this size. Sharks can take years to mature and have very low reproductive rates. Local shark populations could take many years to recover from a loss of this size.
Nets laid down on a migration route.
Illegal fishermen are keen to target the waters at this time of year as it is on a migration route of many fish species and this attracts thousands of sharks.
External Sites:
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
