Currently, there are 265 Chinese fishing fleets sitting outside of the Galapagos marine reserve, shark finning and destroying the species population which in turn is destroying the ecosystem. The Galápagos Islands are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, including species such as: whale sharks, scalloped hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, green sea turtles, manta rays, and more. 

The marine reserve around the Galápagos Islands needs to be extended in order to protect the biodiversity — simply put, if we don’t extend these reserves, China will continue to bring their fleets back year after year until there is nothing left of the abundant and diverse marine life in this ecosystem. To put into perspective the amount of marine life being slaughtered and harvested, one shipping vessel was found and examined and they found 300 scalloped hammerheads on board, and back in Hong Kong at the port, a shipment of fins from approximately 38,000 sharks was identified. The ultimate goal is to ban shark finning around the world and make it illegal with dire consequences in place, however, extending the marine reserves around the Galápagos Islands is our first step to protecting this incredible ecosystem.