but diana pazmiÑo's first priority is species protection.a creatures collide with boats and get injured. the marine biologist spots a hammerhead shark. it is like all sharks often hunted for its fins or ends up as by-catch. that's why they''re slowly dying out. >> shags 220 reach maturity, and what they do, they hold -- sharks take a long time to reach maturity, and once they do, they have few pups. it is extremely important to protect them in their first years of life until they can reproduce. >> these days manuel yepez helps , protects the sharks. but in the past, like many other fishermen here, he killed them for their fins, supplying the asian market. >> we all make mistakes. but i had an epiphany. i now have a great appreciation for the fact that a shark is worth much more alive than dead. >> since the creation of the second-largest protected marine corridor in the world, extending from the galapagos islands to costa rica, the odds of ocean species surviving have increased dramatically. diana pazmiÑo was part of the research team that m