Table of Contents - Fundación Charles Darwin

12
Charles Darwin Foundation
‘Working with the sharks
was pure teamwork’
M
y
been fishing since I was a kid. I started with mullets in
job in the group was to catch the
shark and keep it alive and immo-
bilized until it could be tagged. For
me, that’s no problem, because I’ve
the Puerto Ayora bay and catching lobsters at Playa de
los Alemanes (Germans’ Beach).
Since I already knew Alex from his work at the fisheries,
I told him I could help because I have experience in re-
leasing sharks live, even when they’re caught up in the
long lines.
Tito Franco and Alex Hearn
I wanted to be a part of the tagging to see for myself what
was happening with the sharks, and find out if it was true
that they were dying out, and why they said it was our
fault (the artisanal fishermen’s).
Well, the trip was incredible, because I learned many
things about sharks from the scientists. And I taught them
how to let a shark go.
There in the boat, we were all the same. If we had to
carry something, we all did it together. The only difficult
thing for me was English, so I asked them to please speak
Spanish. And they did.
Tito Franco