Tourist snapshot shows boat poaching shark fins on Silver Banks

Samana, Dominican Republic.- A tourist on one of three tourboats authorized to visit Banco de la Plata (Silver Banks) to watch humpbackwhales on Wednesday released photos taken around a month ago, where a boat withdozens of shark fins can be seen in the wildlife refuge.

The local environmentalist group Eco and ½Ambiente posted theinformation on Facebook.

It said the tourist asked the group to wait until the endofthe whale-watching season to post the pictures and voice his complaint, to preventthe fishermen’s reprisals against tourists visiting the sanctuary.

By law, an Environment Ministry official should be on anyof the authorized tourist boats operating within the refuge during the humpbackwhale-watching season.

The pictures clearly shows the name of the boat: DonManengo.

For years environmentalists around the world have denouncedthat type of fishing, because after they cut the shark’s fins the animal isthrown into the water, slowly drowning, and one of the reasons many countries bannedthe practice.