In 2011 I travelled to the Galápagos Islands to make a documentary about Sea Shepherds efforts in assisting local authorities in combatting illegal fishing within their marine reserve, where the notorious practice of shark finning is abundant. Whilst there, I was invited aboard the 'Reina Del Cisne' - a shark finning vessel that had just been arrested by the Navy - in order to assist in documenting their illegal catch.
To learn more about the entire project you can click here, and below is a series of photos from my evidence collection, as well as the documentary that I made.
Fair Projects first mid-length documentary, produced for Sea Shepherd in the Galapagos Islands, in 2011.
Some 960 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Archipelago is famed throughout the world for its unique plant and animal species.
Sea Shepherd has always considered the Galapagos one of the world’s last untouched wildernesses. But even in this remote part of the world, human encroachment is taking a heavy toll on this fragile eco-system.
Since 2000, Sea Shepherd has maintained a strong and positive presence in the Galapagos Islands and been honoured to do so. These ‘Enchanted Isles’ are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This means that all humanity has a responsibility to help protect them from illegal exploitation. Over the years Sea Shepherd has, among other things, supplied radio equipment to the park rangers and police and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) to monitor movements of fishing vessels - all in a bid to assist in stamping out the illegal poaching of sharks.
Sea Shepherd has also provided education to schoolchildren about the importance of protecting sharks. And, of course, we initiated the K9 unit which is a partnership with the Galapagos police in an attempt to stop the illegal smuggling of wildlife.
Sea Shepherd considers Galapagos an ongoing campaign, one that gives us great pride, and possibly one of the most important in our history and in that of the human race.
In this short film, produced in 2011, we present to you the work that we have been carrying out in order to assist in the protection of the Galapagos Marine Reserve and the life within it.
To find out more, visit www.seashpeherd.org/galapagos