According to AFP and El Espectador, President Ivan Duque and its Environment Minister Carlos Eduardo Correa announced a total ban on shark fishing in Colombia. A rule that ranges from artisanal to industrial fishing. The Minister of Environment, Carlos Eduardo Correa, assured that the communities of artisan fishermen will be able to benefit from programs of payments for environmental services and green businesses to substitute their fishing activities.
Minister Correa, during his speech, explained that “the shark occupies the highest link in the food chain and generates marine balance. Therefore, this country’s decision allows us to take care of our natural resources and our ecosystems. We have to generate a balance between social, environmental, and economic interests.
In addition, he added that the ministries of Environment and Agriculture will establish a decree in which there are compensation measures to address the fisheries sector which is directly affected by this measure. Therefore, they have already begun to work with artisanal fishing communities to provide them with support through the Payments for Environmental Services and Greener Business programs.
Sharks play a critical role in ecosystems, keeping control of species below them in the food chain, thus, they are indicators of oceans health. They also contribute to modifying the spatial habitat of their prey, which alters the feeding strategy and diet of other species.
Correa noted that “by eliminating sharks from coral reef ecosystems, other predators such as grouper proliferate and feed on herbivores and because there are fewer herbivores in the sea, macroalgae expand and the corals cannot compete with them. Therefore, the ecosystem becomes dominated by algae, and the survival of the reef is affected. (You may be interested in: According to the IUCN Red List, 17 species of sharks are in danger of extinction).
EDITORIAL: The Foreign Threat to Colombia’s Marine Sanctuaries
Establishing regulations that prohibit the fishing and commercialization of sharks in Colombia will avoid the nuances and inefficient controls that the old resolutions generated. Establishing fishing quotas without having clarity on how to exercise control was an inefficient measure that finally opened the door to over-exploitation of the resource. Considering its prohibition in Colombian territory for national fishing, it is now the subject of debate how the sovereignty of the seas will be controlled to prevent foreign flag vessels from transgressing the norm.
Sanctuaries of marine biodiversity in Latin America and especially in the Colombian Pacific are being plundered by fishing vessels of other nationalities. Although there are efforts such as that of ‘Silky’, the boat donated by the Biodiversity Conservation Colombia Foundation (BCC), serves the Malpelo Flora and Fauna Sanctuary and makes permanent monitoring in the area, where foreign boats from Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador usually arrive to carry out illegal fishing. Neither the resources nor the due actions are taken to prevent crimes to marine biodiversity.
The National Navy does everything possible within its reach to maintain sovereignty in our seas. Unfortunately, more resources are required to ensure permanent vigilance and control. Other countries in Latin America have policies of zero tolerance to crimes against marine biodiversity, such as facts registered in Argentina where frigates from the Argentine Naval Prefecture sink Chinese fishing boats that enter their waters to carry out illegal fishing activities.
