Florida wildlife officials and the Center for Biological Diversity are offering a $5,0000 reward for information about the illegal killing of a great hammerhead shark.
The 12-foot shark washed up last week near the Juno Beach pier, in Palm Beach County, with its tail and dorsal fin sawed off.
Great hammerheads, which can grow to nearly 20-feet long and live more than 40 years, are critically endangered around the world. Mostly due to the shark fin trade, the population in the Atlantic has fallen by half in the last 70 years. It’s illegal to kill them in Florida and a federal crime to remove their fins.
Researchers at the University of Miami confirmed last summer that Biscayne Bay serves as a nursery for young great hammerheads during the first two years of their lives.
Anyone with information can call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at (888) 404-3922 or go to MyFWC.com/WildlifeAlert.
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