Protection
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An association is demanding authorization to market, for consumption, the flesh of tiger and bulldog sharks, the two species incriminated in the attacks which devastated Reunion Island. The administrative court examines this request on Wednesday October 9.
On Sunday April 12, 2015, Elio Canestri, 13, was killed by a shark while surfing the waves west of Reunion. Since then, his father, Giovanni, has created an association which bears his son’s name to prevent such tragedies from happening again. It is in this capacity that he filed a request with the administrative court of Saint-Denis, requesting the repeal of a prefectural decree of December 2009 which prohibits the marketing of the flesh of tiger sharks and bull sharks. . Request which must be examined this Wednesday, October 9.
These two species of sharks were responsible for the deaths of eleven surfers and swimmers between 2011 and 2019 in Reunion. Before the decree, supermarkets on the island, like restaurants, offered shark steaks on the shelves and on the plates. “Since the prefecture’s decision, fishermen no longer have any interest in fishing for sharks, since they no longer have the right to sell them, recalls Yves Boutron, secretary of the Elio Canestri association. As a result, these sharks, which are invasive species, proliferate.” Even if no official figures corroborate this possible “overpopulation”, many small fishermen are indeed complaining. Stéphane, who fishes on the east coast of the island, says that “the sharks swallow all the
