ISSUE NO. 1637
17 - 23 November 2016
AXARQUÍA - COSTA TROPICAL YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Endangered shark butchered on beach
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No end in sight THERE appears to be little light at the end of the tunnel for the meandering, seemingly endless project to construct an urgently-needed new medical centre in Nerja, as the Junta de Andalucia confirmed they have no plans to fund the scheme. See page 2
Bombers blasted TWO British men are among four people arrested for their alleged involvement in the wave of robberies which has hit Malaga
in recent months and has seen at least 13 cash machines blown up, albeit with varying degrees of See page 4 success.
Modern-day Marks A 56-YEAR-OLD Englishman has been detained in Sedella under a European Detention and Delivery Order issued by a court in the UK. He has been wanted
under suspicion of drug trafficking since 2014, when British police intercepted 3.7 tonnes of cannabis resin he was attempting See page 5 to smuggle.
Prankster pulled in A YOUNG man has been arrested by the Guardia Civil for allegedly reporting false traffic accidents in the vicinity of VelezMalaga. After tracking the man down, he was arrested and handed over to the appropriate judicial authorities. See page 7
By Matt Ford Fishermen working off Burriana beach in Nerja have come under heavy criticism from environmentalists and marine biologists in the wake of the butchering of an adult thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus) after it was caught ‘accidentally.’ The four-metre animal, which apparently weighed some 400 kilos, was ensnared in a trammel net, a three-layered static arrangement used to entangle fishes and crustaceans. Several boats became involved in order to muster the force to drag the shark to shore, where it was carved into pieces and distributed to various local businesses. Thresher flesh is highly-valued and considered a delicacy, but the species is classified as ‘endangered’ by the International Union for the Conserva-
tion of Nature (IUCN), which publishes a Red List detailing the conservation status of species worldwide. The shark is protected by national and international law and its capture is prohibited in Spain, although largely unregulated fishing in the Mediterranean has caused its numbers to decline by ‘at least’ 60 per cent in the last 45 years alone. Despite growing to over five metres in length, the thresher is not considered dangerous to humans since it has a
small mouth and is adapted to feed on small fish. Francisco Pinto, a shark specialist working at the Aula del Mar museum in Malaga City, said that although it is very unusual to see this species so close to the coast, an individual was captured in the port of Caleta de Velez a few years ago and seized by the Fisheries Inspectorate of the Junta de Andalucia. “On some occasions we have seen specimens lurking around the mouths of ports, such as Benalmadena, but nev-
er on the beaches,” he added. “It is a shame that there are still unscrupulous types who do business via the capture and sale of endangered sharks.”
Rural refuse THE Deputy Mayor and Head of Economy and Finance, Francisco Sanchez-Cantalejo of Motril has announced that the council is taking action to bring into force new rubbish removal taxes for those residents in farms within the council area. See page 13