We blogged about this a few months ago apparent white shark young of the year being sold at the Ensenada Fish Market as "swordfish and marlin".This month we ventured back down to the Ensenada Fish Market looking for evidence of more pups on sale. While we did not find any pups for the first time in three years, we did discover a series of shark carcass without skins being sold as "swordfish and marlin".
Perhaps we made a difference, but we think not.
Our contact in Ensenda who works with the local shark fishing co-op tells us he's still catching many Y.O.Y and they are still being sold up and down the coast.
The irony here is within 15 minutes of this market are agencies tasked with protecting Mexico's Bio-Spheres and local universities that do serious work with oceans and marine life in and around Mexico.
As a first step we would like to see DNA sampling of all shark species at this market and a solid program of education with the local fishermen and sellers about sharks especially white shark pups.
The path to change is through education and we have enough preliminary data out there to show white shark pups migrating past Ensenada on their way to the Sea of Cortez. With such a vulnerable population at stake the timing could not be better.
