Truckload of Shark Fins Intercepted in Mandaue

A 20-footer truck loaded of what is believed to be thresher shark’s fins was intercepted last saturday at the Marcelo Fernan Bridge in Mandaue City by the Capitol’s Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force and Lapu-Lapu City’s Task Force Kalikasan.

Loy Madrigal of CAIFTF said truck driver Marlon Obasa was able to produce documents that proved that the cargo was imported from Spain.

Cebu was only made as a drying area for the fins, he said.

But Madrigal said they took three samples of the fins for examination to find out if these were really from Spain and not from Cebu, where thresher sharks are known to inhabit.

The cargo, according to the papers presented by the driver, arrived in Cebu on July 31 and is scheduled to be exported to Hongkong where it will be made into shark fin soup, on August 31.

The Provincial Government passed an ordinance that banned the catching and trading of thresher sharks.

Fishing and trading of sharks are prohibited under the “Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.”