Fisherman Sentenced for Catching Protected Angel Shark
The Criminal Court Number 3 in Arrecife, Lanzarote, has convicted a citizen, H.H., for the crime of damaging flora and fauna by fishing for protected species. The charge, under Article 334.1 of the Penal Code, relates to the catching of an angel shark (Squatina squatina) in 2023. This species is critically endangered and is strictly protected under Canary Islands, Spanish, European, and international law.
Details of the Sentence and the Crime
The sentence is final, with no ordinary appeal possible. It imposes a three-year special disqualification from the right to fish and hunt, an 18-month fine with a daily quota of eight euros, and payment of legal costs. The case was brought to light by the Canarian environmental association ADACIS, which filed a complaint with the Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) in Lanzarote in November 2023. The complaint was against H.H., a poacher, after ADACIS learned of the capture and dismemberment of at least one angel shark, an act which had been published on social media at the time.
A Landmark Case for Marine Protection
This is the second conviction in which ADACIS has participated as a private prosecutor against illegal fishing of protected marine species. The first was secured in November 2023 against a citizen who was promoting the fishing of various protected species of rays and sharks in Lanzarote as an international tourist attraction. The recent ruling states that the accused knowingly caught an angel shark off the coast of Lanzarote, in the judicial district of Arrecife, an act which is expressly prohibited.
The court found he contravened multiple protective regulations, including Spanish Ministerial Orders ARM/1647/2009, ARM/2689/2009, and AAA/658/2014, EU Regulations 123/2020 and 40/2013, and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species. These laws prohibit the capture of such critically endangered protected species, which are not included among those permitted for recreational sea fishing.
Vital Step for Canarian Biodiversity
ADACIS has welcomed the sentence, viewing it as a positive and significant legal precedent for Canarian society as a whole, its public and private institutions, and for the effective protection of the islands’ vulnerable marine biodiversity and its most threatened species. “The repeated efforts, investments, and work promoted by multiple island administrations tasked with ensuring the effective conservation of these animals, and the extensive scientific studies by universities and non-governmental organisations to prevent the extinction of the angel shark in the archipelago, cannot in any way be harmed by the attitude of irresponsible people who attack the life of these animals, seriously destroying the Canary Islands’ natural heritage,” ADACIS stated.
The organisation added, “The life of a single angel shark specimen can be decisive for the survival of the species in the Canaries, a species that plays an essential role in the marine and coastal ecological ecosystem, and whose presence contributes to the islands’ economy through observation by recreational diving activities at numerous dive centres.”
Call for Public Vigilance
ADACIS believes this ruling is a further step in the essential protection of the angel shark and other protected marine species that are also frequently subject to poaching in the Canaries. The environmental association has stressed that fighting the impunity of practices harmful to the islands’ marine nature requires the firm involvement of public and private institutions and citizens themselves. It encourages the public to report any similar incidents they detect on any of the islands to the competent authorities.
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