Narcotrafficking gangs operating out of Manabí, a coastal province of Ecuador, are also involved in trafficking shark fins alongside their drug operations, according to a recent investigation by Ecuadorian news agency Código Vidrio. Evidence from wiretaps, surveillance and raids seen by Código Vidrio reporters suggests that gangs are capturing and finning sharks and transporting the fins as a secondary income stream alongside cocaine and fuel. According to Código Vidrio, Ecuadorian police say that shark fin shipments pass through the Galápagos Islands, where fins are preserved and stored, en route to Asia. Carlos Ortega, the head of Ecuador’s antinarcotics police, told Código Vidrio that authorities seized two fishing vessels in 2024 and 2025 near the Galápagos carrying a combined 27 metric tons of shark fins. In both cases, the crews were on the same route that criminal groups use to deliver cocaine to Central America and the U.S., Ortega said. Shark fishing is illegal in Ecuador, but a 2007 law allows for the sale of sharks caught as bycatch. This loophole has since made Ecuador a top exporter of shark fins, despite the ban on targeted fishing. Código Vidrio’s findings follow an October 2025 Mongabay Latam investigation that revealed that Los Choneros and Los Lobos, two drug gangs, had teamed up with sea pirates to expand into fishing. Artisanal fishers in Ecuador and Peru told Mongabay the gangs had seized control of ports and forced fishers to pay them part of their earnings. Other fishers are pushed into the high-risk activity…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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