Ecuadorian Navy Raises Alarm Over Fleet of Chinese Fishing Vessels Near Galápagos

Posted on by July 30, 2020

Ecuador has raised an alarm after a naval patrol sighted a fleet of around 260 Chinese fishing vessels just outside the Galápagos protection zone. Naval patrols had been stepped up to monitor the Chinese ships. Chinese fishing vessels come regularly to the Pacific around the Galápagos, but this year’s fleet is one of the largest in recent years.

The Galápagos islands were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978. The waters surrounding the islands have been protected since 1998 by the Galápagos Marine Reserve, which spans more than 50,000 square miles around the archipelago. 

Chinese ships are currently in international waters to the just outside a 188-mile wide Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around the islands, but their presence has already raised the prospect of serious damage to the delicate marine ecosystem, said a former environment minister, Yolanda Kakabadse.

“This fleet’s size and aggressiveness against marine species is a big threat to the balance of species in the Galápagos,” she told the Guardian. The fishing vessels are in a sliver of water to the south of the archipelago, between the Galápagos protection zone and Ecuadorian territorial waters

Ecuador President Lenín Moreno tweeted in Spanish over the weekend in support of the naval patrols.

“We will work in a regional position to defend and protect the Exclusive Economic Zone around the Galápagos Marine Reserve, one of the richest fishing areas and a hotbed of life for the entire planet,” he said.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.

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