Ecuador navy ‘on alert’ as 260-strong Chinese fleet nears Galapagos Islands

[mountaineer]

Ecuador navy ‘on alert’ as 260-strong Chinese fleet nears Galapagos Islands
July 29, 2020
Danielle Wallace

A large fleet of some 260 Chinese fishing vessels has been spotted in the waters surrounding the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, the country’s navy officials said last week.

The Ecuadorian Navy said it has increasing patrolling to ensure the Chinese ships do not enter the exclusive economic zone around the Galápagos Islands, where 19th-century British explorer Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution, Reuters reported.

“We are on alert, conducting surveillance, patrolling to avoid an incident such as what happened in 2017,” Ecuador’s Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin said at a press conference. Three years ago, a Chinese ship was apprehended in the Galápagos Marine Reserve carrying 300 tons of marine wildlife — mostly sharks, including the hammerhead, which is near extinction. ...

New York Post

 

[mountaineer]

260 Chinese boats fish near Galapagos; Ecuador on alert
[Associated Press]
GONZALO SOLANO and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
July 30, 2020

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Some call it a floating city, a flotilla of 260 mostly Chinese fishing vessels near the Galapagos archipelago that is stirring diplomatic tension and raising worries about the threat to sharks, manta rays and other vulnerable species in waters around the UNESCO world heritage site.

Yet the vast fleet is in international waters, outside a maritime border around the Galapagos and also outside coastal waters off Ecuador, which controls the archipelago. That means the fleet, one of the biggest seen in years off South America's Pacific coast, is likely to fish with minimal monitoring until its holds are full.

The Chinese fleet is “very close" to the edge of the exclusive economic zone around the Galapagos, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the archipelago, said its governor, Norman Wray. He said that, because of overfishing in recent years, “what we're seeing is that each time fewer species return to the Galapagos." ... AP via Yahoo