Co-operation between the authorities in Spain and Portugal had enabled the seizure of almost 25 tonnes of illegally caught blue shark that had been destined for the European market.
The goods were intercepted on board a vessel flying the Angolan flag and seized at a refrigeration facility in Vigo. This successful operation is the result of co-operation between Spanish and Portuguese fisheries surveillance services.
An alert was received by both Member States from the services of the European Commission, the fisheries inspection services of Spain and Portugal carried out the monitoring of containers with merchandise from an Angolan vessel without authorisation to carry out fishing in the waters where the catches were taken.
In this operation, the Fisheries Inspection Service of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) concluded the seizure of 24,803kg of blue shark and 49kg of fins in a refrigeration facility in Vigo.
These catches are illegal as they originate from an Angolan vessel that does not appear in the vessel registry of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
