Fisherman filmed shooting 'protected' tiger shark in Mexico
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT. A rare tiger shark has been shot dead by a group of fishermen off the coast of Mexico, video shows.
The tiger shark has a status of 'near threatened' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List as a result of commercial and recreational overfishing.
Their capture is highly demanded because some people believe their fins have excellent nutritious, healing and aphrodisiac properties.
Their skin, meat, and liver are also used for different human purposes.
The shark, a protected species, was shot near the city of Veracruz by a group of fishermen.
After dragging the shark alongside the boat, video shows the group repeatedly shoot the shark.
Blood pours out into the water as the shark continues to be shot.
Local media reported one of the men depicted in the video is Francisco Ruiz, the son of popular businessman Valentin Ruiz, who died in 2014.
Valentin Ruiz was the President of Intra-Group, a conglomerate of 40 companies in the construction, hotel, services, financial, agriculture and cattle industries
Francisco Ruiz defended the group's fishing trip, telling local media: "It is like saying that everyday sacrifice chickens, cattle, pigs to feed... we finally enjoyed shark."
"People are using this video in a negative way, and want to affect my image and the things we are doing rightly. Having all the legal documents right, it is not needed to be worried about", he added.
Several marine life conservation organisations are pushing for a stop of overfishing of tiger sharks.
