Pacific Sharks
Pacific Ocean Sharks USFWS Pacific/Flickr

Around two thousand sharks were killed for their fins at Malpelo Nature Reserve in the Pacific near Colombia, according to local authorities.

The Guardian reported that divers who were studying the sharks discovered the finless corpses.

They saw a large number of fishing trawlers entering the zone illegally, Sandra Bessudo, Colombia's environmental minister, told The Guardian. When the divers dove, they started finding a large number of animals without their fins. They didn't see any alive. The divers saw 10 fishing boats, which were flying Costa Rican flags, with each boat responsible for the deaths of an estimated 200 sharks.

Malpelo Nature Reserve, a six-mile radius surrounding a rocky island, contains protected hammerhead, Galápagos and whale sharks. But the animals are prized for their fins, which are considered a Chinese delicacy.

An Ecuadorian fishing boat was also seized on Sunday with an illegal catch of 300 kilograms.