Ecuador's Navy Eradicates Fish Looting In The Galapagos Islands

Galapagos. Ecuador/ILLUSTRATION OF UNSPLASH/Deb Dowd

JAKARTA - Ecuador's Navy is ready to protect the sea around the Galapagos Islands from illegal fishing by foreign vessels whose annual visits threaten marine biota in the waters, following exercises with neighboring allies.

Training operations around Galapagos, located between a very diverse marine reserve, began in 2018 after authorities seized ships in the protected area the previous year.

The ship, then known as Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999, raised the Chinese flag and carried 300 tons of fish when caught.

"The problem is that the number of foreign fishing vessels has reached a point where they are starting to loot the ecosystem," said frigate captain Guillermo Miranda, commander of the captured vessel, who was later renamed Hualcopo after legal proceedings handed the ship over permanently to Ecuador in 2017. 2020.

"When they catch fish, they influence migrating species, which in many cases are part of the Galapagos marine ecosystem," Miranda said.

"This is a serious problem, it doesn't just happen in Ecuador," he added.

Six Ecuadorian ships participated in exercises from June 23 to July 9, along with US, Peru, and Colombia naval vessels, where they carried out simulations of operations to intercept and board fishing vessels.

Each year the fishing fleet is large in numbers, mostly raising the Chinese flag, sailing near Galapagos, which inspired British scientist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in the 19th century.

Ecuador's government said the ships turned off their radar so that their fishing activities were not monitored.

China says its fishing vessels comply with regulations in international waters, adding that the characteristics of the squid fishing vessel operations do not allow by-arrest sharks or other protected marine species.