Born Free USA’s anti-wildlife trafficking training program is having a big impact!
In February 2019, Born Free USA organized a training workshop for customs officers in Benin, which covered, among other topics, the threats facing sharks and specific training on identifying shark and ray species and their fins.
Last year, in September 2020, this training paid off when customs officials at Cotonou Airport in Benin seized 106 illegally trafficking shark fins. The fins came from multiple CITES-listed shark species, including the shortfin mako shark, the common thresher shark, hammerhead species, and silky sharks.
The fins had been shipped from Pointe Noire in Congo as unaccompanied luggage on a passenger flight. A third party was then to retrieve the baggage at Cotonou Airport and organize ground transportation to Ghana for export to Asia. In addition to the seizure of the trafficked fins, the trafficker in Benin was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of $364 USD (200,000 FCFA).
Shark fin identification can be challenging, especially when the fins of several species are mixed together. Yet, learning to identify these species is crucial. Sharks face growing threats, such as overfishing and incidental catches by fisheries targeting other species (bycatch), which are driven in large part by the increasing demand for high-value fins that are considered a delicacy in Asia. In addition, slow growth rates, late maturity, and low reproductive rates make sharks particularly vulnerable to overexploitation.
While seizures and arrests cannot bring wildlife back, the shark fin seizure at Cotonou Airport, the shark fin seizures at Abidjan Airport in Ivory Coast, and other confiscations are important steps forward in ending illegal wildlife trade, as they take wildlife products off the market and put traffickers out of operation.
Born Free USA is proud to work with the brave men and women on the front lines of the fight to end wildlife trafficking to equip them with the knowledge and resources they need to do their jobs more effectively and safely. We congratulate the team at Cotonou Airport on this amazing work!
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Aurora
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