Peru vows to investigate report of massive dolphin slaughter
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-peru-investigate-dolphin-slaughter-20131020,0,3712416.story
By Adriana Leon and Chris Kraul
October 20, 2013, 10:47 a.m.
LIMA, Peru — The Peruvian government has promised to investigate charges by an environmental group that the out-of-control slaughter of dolphins in Pacific coastal waters has put the ocean mammal at risk.
At least 15,000 dolphins are being killed off the Peruvian coast annually by fishermen who use them as shark bait, the environmental watchdog group Asociacion Mundo Azul, or Blue World Assn., said late Saturday. The organization conducted a months-long undercover investigation by placing informants aboard fishing vessels.
Killing of dolphins was outlawed by Peru's legislature in 1997, but Stefan Austermuhle, executive director of Blue World, said fishermen have continued to target the mammals, which they harpoon, for bait.
Sharks, an increasingly coveted catch for meat sold in Peru and for fins sold on the black market in Asia, are also depleting rapidly, he said.
“This ecological crime is an open secret in Peruvian fishing,” .........
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