July 2007
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Founder Captain Paul Watson has been awarded the Amazon Peace Prize for
his work on behalf of the environment and marine species of Latin America.
While in Quito to receive the award, he signed an agreement with the
National Police of Ecuador for joint operations to patrol the Galapagos
Marine Reserve for illegal fishing operations.
Watson was selected for this award by the Vice President of Ecuador Lenín
Moreno and the Latin American Association for Human Rights to recognize
his dedication to the protection of marine wildlife around the world and
for his efforts over the last seven years in the Galapagos Islands.
The Amazon Peace Prize medal and plaque were presented to Watson by Chief
Commander of the Ecuadorian National Police Bolivar Cisneros in a July 5
ceremony in Quito.
Watson accepted the award saying, "We now have a government in Ecuador
with the will to uphold laws to protect the environment, and we must do
everything in our power to uphold the laws we have protecting both the
Galapagos and the Amazon. We can make this Ecuadorian effort a model of
conservation for the world to notice and to emulate."
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa took office in January and in April
undertook a cleanup of corruption in the Galapagos Islands, which he has
declared to be in a state of emergency.
While in Quito, Watson signed two agreements, solidifying the role of the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in protecting Latin America's marine
species.
First, he signed an agreement with AMAZNOR, an Ecuadorian grassroots
organization dedicated to the protection of the Amazon, to help the
endangered pink dolphin and the manatee that inhabit the Amazon region. He
also received an award for environmental protection from AMAZNOR.
In a ceremony on July 4, Watson signed an agreement with the National
Police of Ecuador that will allow the Sea Shepherd to work with the police
to patrol the Galapagos Marine Reserve to detect and destroy illegal
fishing operations.
The Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat in the Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos Islands, in the equatorial Pacific about 1,000 kilometers
(650 miles) from the Ecuadorian coast, are a globally outstanding
repository of biodiversity with up to 95 percent of the original pre-human
plants and animals remaining.
After several working sessions with General Cisneros and Colonel Teresa
Carranza, commander of the National Environmental Police, a division of
the National Police, Sea Shepherd agreed to work on ways to strengthen the
Environmental Police of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
"We have made a huge dent in the poaching mafias that operate in the
Galapagos Islands and this agreement will strengthen our ability to
continue to work together towards this common goal," said Sea Shepherd
Galapagos Director Sean O'Hearn Gimenez.
This is how the Sea Shepherd operates to protect marine life in the
Galapagos Marine Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, place on the list
of World Heritage in Danger just last month.
Aboard the organization's ship Farley Mowat in reserve waters on the
morning of July 1, crew members spotted three longlines set to target
yellowfin tuna that carried none of the required bird-scaring devices. The
devices are supposed to keep seabirds from being hooked on the longlines
and drowning.
The crew pulled in the line, freeing the hooked animals and seizing a
total of 30 nautical miles of illegal longline, including 270 baited
hooks.
A Sea Shepherd zodiac was deployed to gather evidence on the poaching
vessel which continued to illegally set longlines.
The poachers began throwing equipment overboard, eager to destroy
evidence, which was later confiscated. The video evidence of the boat
fleeing the scene was handed over to the National Park Service of Ecuador.
On June 29th, in the town of Libertad, near the coastal city of Guayaquil,
O'Hearn-Gimenez participated in a raid on a house that was being used to
process illegally obtained sea cucumbers for shipment out of the country.
The raid resulted in the seizure of 26 sacks of sea cucumbers, a total of
40,000 of the animals. Two men were arrested.
On June 20, Sea Shepherd staff and operatives of the Ecuadorian
Environmental Police seized a total of 18,673 shark fins and arrested four
suspects who are now being detained by police.
"This successful sting is the result of several months working covertly
with the cooperation of General Bolivar Cisneros, Chief Commander of the
Ecuadorian National Police," said O'Hearn-Gimenez.
"Sea Shepherd traced potential exit points in the illegal shark fin trade
that occurs in the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador."
The initial seizure, at the immigration checkpoint, included four sacks
with over 500 pounds of shark fins that were hidden in the compartment
area of a passenger bus travelling along a route from Guayaquil to
Huaquillas.
Three passengers were arrested at this point, including an Ecuadorian and
two Peruvian men.
A second passenger bus travelling from Guayaquil towards the Peruvian
border was also inspected and two boxes were found full of shark fins,
weighing 97.9 pounds. A Peruvian male approached the driver and stated
that he was expecting the two boxes and he was immediately arrested.
This is roughly equivalent to over 4,500 sharks slaughtered; the fins have
an estimated street value of over US$140,000.
"This is a cruel and senseless act. Some shark populations have declined
by more than 90 percent in the last 30 years. Many of the sharks are
finned in and around the Galapagos Marine Reserve and this has a direct
impact on Ecuador's tourism industry," said O'Hearn-Gimenez.
"Using longlines, the shark finner will use a long hook to haul the shark
into the boat and then club it in the head knocking the shark unconscious.
At this point the shark is finned alive and is thrown back into the water
and left to bleed an agonizing death."
In Ecuador, exportation and commercialization of shark fins is against the
law. Sea Shepherd will be filing a lawsuit as well as conducting a
forensic analysis of the shark fins in order to determine the biological
makeup of the sharks and to determine whether any of the species are
listed as endangered by the IUCN-World Conservation Union.
O'Hearn-Gimenez will oversee the incineration of the shark fins to ensure
that they do not re-enter the black market.
Born in Canada and one of the original co-founders of Greenpeace in
Vancouver, Watson founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1979.
He has battled the Canadian seal hunt and whaling in all the world's
oceans. He has been arrested, but never convicted of a crime, and no one
has been seriously injured on a Sea Shepherd campaign. He has been called
a radical, and even an eco-terrorist by his enemies, such as Japanese
whalers, but in Ecuador, Watson is seen as a hero.
"We have invested seven years in the Galapagos so far," said Watson. "We
have established a solid working relationship with the Galapagos National
Park and enforcement authorities in Ecuador."
In the Galapagos Islands since the year 2000, Sea Shepherd has supported
patrolling operations in the Galapagos Marine Reserve through its donation
of a retired U.S. Coast Guard cutter.
Currently, from its office in the Galapagos, Sea Shepherd is working on
developing environmental education projects to raise environmental
awareness among the tourists who visit the archipelago as well as the many
children who reside in the islands.
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