Busted: BlueVoice Team Documents Shark Finning in Peru

Baby sharks at market
Photo by AWI/Mundo Azul

Our team has come back with shocking footage of shark finning and overfishing of sharks in Peru. Sharks - most of them undersized - are brought to shore and finned.

A BlueVoice/Mundo Azul expedition has returned with damning evidence of a massive hunt for dolphins carried out by Peruvian fishermen, as well as the killing of undersized sharks and endangered species of sharks.

The shark meat is sold on the national market. The fins are separated in port by an intermediate fish dealer for export. BlueVoice and Mundo Azul will continue the investigation of markets into which the shark fins are sold.

And we documented heart-wrenching footage of baby sharks being marketed for ceviche.

Peru is well on its way to wiping out the shark populations along its coast. The sharks are fished using bait from dolphins that the fishermen harpoon.

Blue sharks and Mako sharks are taken on board Peruvian fishing vessels. The process involved unbelievable cruelty and it can take as long as an hour for the sharks to die. Mako sharks, which are dangerous on deck, are cut behind the head to sever the spine. The fishermen cut the entire rostrum off the blue sharks to prevent them from biting.

In 2010, the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) added the shortfin mako shark, one of the species taken off Peru, to Annex I (Migratory species threatened with extinction) of its Migratory Species listing.

Peru dolphin killing
Photo by AWI/Mundo Azul

The Peruvian government is doing NOTHING to stop it. But with your help we can.

As part of our campaign to end this slaughter, we have initiated a campaign to get restaurants to pledge they will not serve dolphin and shark meat. To date, dozens of chefs in Lima and coastal tourist destinations have made the pledge to take shark and dolphin off the menu and to distribute information about the unlawful dolphin slaughter

Our partners from Mundo Azul canvassed the town of Pucusana, a major tourist destination in Peru, and during their first day got more than 20 restaurants to take the pledge.