Ecuador’s military on Tuesday said that dozens of vessels from a predominantly Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the Galapagos Islands have turned off tracking systems to prevent the monitoring of their activities.
Of about 325 ships still fishing in the waters near the ecologically sensitive Galapagos Islands, 149 have at some point in recent months cut off communications, Ecuadoran Navy General Commander Rear Admiral Darwin Jarrin told a news conference.
Some also changed their vessel’s name to avoid supervision, he said.
Photo: Reuters
“In this period, 149 ships have turned off their satellite systems... We know the name of the ships,” Jarrin said, declining to identify the vessels.
The complaint comes as the South American nation is seeking to prevent unsustainable fishing off its coast, while also avoiding a confrontation with China, its largest financier and a major market for its shrimp export business.
A representative of the Chinese embassy declined to comment.
Ecuador has said that the fleet has not entered its territorial waters, but environmentalists have said that this type of fishing allows vessels to take advantage of the abundant marine wildlife that travels in the waters between the Galapagos Islands and the mainland.
“It is a breach [of protocol] on the high seas, because they do not want us to know what they are doing and the activities they carry out,” Ecuadoran Minister of National Defence Minister Oswaldo Jarrin said.
Turning off satellite equipment breaches regulations created by the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), a group of international agencies that promote sustainable fishing, he added.
The New Zealand-based South Pacific RFMO, one of the organizations that provide guidance on fishing practices in the area, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Since 2017, the Chinese fishing fleet has arrived in the summer months to the outskirts of the Galapagos Islands protected area, attracted by marine species such as the giant squid or the hammerhead shark, the latter of which is a threatened species.
China has promised a “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal fishing and it has authorized the Andean country to supervise the vessels.
It has also proposed a fishing moratorium in the area near the Galapagos Islands from September to November, although the fleets usually leave the area before that period begins.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
RSS