There were no great Christmas gifts given to the Galapagos’ sharks this last year. On December 23 a local judge from the Galapagos threw a case out of his court against the Fer Mary, an Ecuadorian flagged ship based out of Manta. The Fer Mary was caught within the Galapagos marine sanctuary carrying 357 poached shark carcasses. Legally there can be no shark fishing within the Galapagos national marine reserve, though it’s rich teaming waters attract poachers from all over the world taking sharks for the lucrative shark fin market. Sharks bound for the Asian shark fin soup markets have caused 90% of the world’s shark populations to be threatened and the Galapagos reserve is no exception. To counteract the destruction, many International and Ecuadorian conservation groups have been working both in the field, tracking down the poachers, and within the courts, trying to expand Ecuador’s legal system in order to start convicting these scum.
The Fer Mary case was slated by conservationists to be a landmark. They had hoped that a decision handed down against poachers could have cemented the Galapagos’ court’s commitment to protect Ecuador’s Sharks. Instead the judge in this trial ruled himself “non-competent” to decide on an environmental case. Hmmm, a penal judge rules himself non-competent to rule on a penal case? Didn’t think you’d be hearing that one, huh? Well, you heard it here first. This isn’t actually the first time a local judge has ruled his own non-competence as grounds for moving a shark poaching case out of local courts. Earlier this year a similar charge was brought up against the Reina del Cisne which was carrying 82 poached sharks within the Galapagos reserve.
When a local judge dismisses himself from a case based on non-competence what the judge effectively does is send the case to the mainland, I presume to Quito or Guayaquil, to a higher national court where a (hopefull) competent judge versed in environmental issues will hear the case. But how things work in these cases is that the defendants are released from custody and asked to report on their own recognizance. Will they show? Don’t hold your breath. Smugglers and pirates, criminal scum like these, will slip through the cracks and surface aboard another boat poaching for profits.
So what will be done for the Galapagos’ sharks?
Should Correa not step up with his new powers to remove judges he considers corrupt. And would it be a stretch to say that these judges might not have been “dumbed” down by a little “incentive” from poachers? Hmmmm. Certainly these judges have let down the public and the whole world as the Galapagos is an important national treasure and international bio reserve. Practically thinking, you’d think the government would look toward the devolution of the Galapagos’ ability to sustain Eco-tourism as reason enough to install judges more competent and knowledgeable on Galapagos conservation issues. Should all the Galapagos’ sharks be annihilated so some limp Asian can enjoy a bit of cartilage in his bowl of broth or do these majestic and ancient creatures not represent a little more to this government?
What Now?
Well, here’s the part when we discuss what you can do to help. I got Ecuador’s international consulate addresses straight from the Sea Shepherd’s website. Yes, the Sea Shepherd of Whale Wars fame is one of the principal players operating in the Galapagos to defend and preserve.
Check out their campaign: http://www.seashepherd.org/galapagos/. These are the good guys and deserve our support and admiration and perhaps a belated Christmas present on behalf of the sharks and in the form of a donation.
Consulate of Ecuador USA 2535 15th Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20009 Tel: (202) 234-7166 Fax: (202) 265-9325 email: consuladodc@ecuador.org website: http://www.ecuador.org
Embassy of Ecuador USA 2535 15th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20009 Tel: (202) 234-7200 Fax: (202) 667-3482 Email: embassy@ecuador.org
Embassy of Ecuador UK Flat 3b, 3 Hans Crescent London SW1X 0LS United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7584 2648 / 1367 / 8084 Fax: +44 (0)20 7823 9701
Embassy of Ecuador Canada 50 O’Connor Street, Suite 316 Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1P 6L2 Tel: +1 (613) 563-8206 / 4286? Fax: +1 (613) 235-5776 Email: mecuacan@rogers.com
Ecuador Consulate, Toronto Canada 151 Bloor St, West, Suite 470 Toronto Ontario Canada M5S 1S4 Phone: +1-416-968-2077 Fax: +1-416-968-3348 Email: ctoronto@idirect.com
Ecuador Consulate, Montreal Canada 2055 Peel, Oficina No. 501 Montreal Quebec Canada H3A 1V4 Phone: +1-514-874-4071 Fax: +1-514-874-9078 Email: consecuador-montreal@rapidweb.ca
Ecuador Consulate , Vancouver Canada 7388 Lynnwood Drive, Richmond British Columbia Vancouver Canada V7C 5H8 Phone: +1-604-274-7707Fax: +1-604-274-7706 Email: ecuador@telus.net
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