Saving Seafood

Ecuador to expand protected area around Galapagos Islands

November 2, 2021 — Ecuador will increase the area protecting the Galapagos Marine Reserve by 60,000 square kilometers, Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso announced at the United Nations COP26 climate summit taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.

The reserve will grow nearly 50 percent in size from its current 130,000 square kilometers, Lasso said. Ecuador’s newly created reserve would expand northward to include the Cocos Ridge and would completely ban industrial fishing in the reserve, as well as subsistence fishing in some areas. The move would be financed by a “debt-for-conservation swap,” according to Lasso, whereby Ecuador’s external debt could be forgiven in exchange for local investment in conservation programs. He did not provide further information. The South American nation’s external debt is nearly USD 46 billion (EUR 39.7 billion), equivalent to 45 percent of the country’s GDP.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Four South American countries prepare to challenge Chinese fishing abuses at COMM9

January 5, 2020 — A fleet of more than 300 mostly Chinese-flagged fishing ships that caused consternation among the governments of Ecuador and Peru this summer when it was spotted fishing around their respective exclusive economic zones, has continued to fish in the Pacific Ocean around South America, and affected countries are coordinating actions to stop it.

The fleet was spotted by Ecuadorian maritime officials in mid-July as it arrived outside of the Galápagos Marine Reserve in international waters near Ecuador’s exclusive economic zone. The fleet was subsequently accused of shutting off its GPS trackers to enable it to fish illegally in protected waters without being detected.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China is trying to rein in its vessels illegally depleting fish stocks in West Africa

March 15, 2018 — China is increasingly cracking down on vessels from its country that are engaged in illegal fishing activities in West Africa. It’s a move environmental groups say is indicative of increased intolerance towards illicit practices in high seas and an effort to improve its image globally.

Since 2016, the country has canceled subsidies worth €90 million ($111.6 million) for 264 vessels caught undertaking illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, according to non-profit Greenpeace. Three of the 78 companies that owned these vessels had their distant water fishing licenses revoked, while 15 company owners and captains were blacklisted.

In late February, the ministry of agriculture also halted the pelagic fishing license of Lian Run, a major Chinese company accused of systematic pillaging of West African fisheries on a huge scale. All of the company’s distant water fishing operations, involving about 30 vessels, were also stopped. Last year, two of the company’s trawlers—Lian Run 34 and 47—were caught operating off the coast of Guinea with illegal fishing nets and in possession of shark fins without the body, a practice prohibited under Guinean law.

China also halted the operations of Fuzhou Honglong fisheries companies, months after the company was caught in the Galapagos Marine Reserve transporting thousands of dead shark carcasses.

Read the full story at Quartz