Ecuadorian Armada Seizes Chinese Vessels That Had Over 300 Tons Of Illegal Fish
Featured Image Credit:Galapagos National Park Directorate
By Kira Krall
On August 13th, 2017, Pelayo Salinas of the Charles Darwin Foundation and his research crew spotted a vessel in the restricted area of the Galapagos Marine Reserve. The vessel was in an area designated only for research and tourism, so Salinas and his team radioed them to see what was up.
Since the boat was Chinese and ignored multiple communication attempts (which is against the law), Salinas suspected that the vessel was involved in illegal fishing. He and 3 of his crew members hopped into their inflatable boat to get a closer look.
Image Credit: Galapagos Conservation Trust
Caption: The area where the vessel was spotted hosts the largest abundance of sharks in the world. In 2016, the northern end of the Galapagos Marine Reserve banned all extraction of natural resources, including fishing. These 15,000 square miles are now the “Darwin and Wolf Marine Sanctuary.”
The vessel in question was a special type of barge known as a “reefer.” It stores the catch of smaller fishing boats so they can fish for longer without having to return to port. Salinas’s boat didn’t have enough power to pursue the massive ship, but the Ecuadorian Navy helicopter and Coast Guard boat did. The Chinese ship Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 yielded the largest seizure of sharks in the history of the Galapagos.
After a quick survey of the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 99, officials estimated that there were tens of thousands of illegal sharks on board in addition to bony fish like tuna. The six cargo bays were filled with over 300 tons of fish. Image Credit: Beyond Reality News
What’s worse, the sharks were mostly near-threatened silky sharks and endangered scalloped hammerheads. Watch a video from the survey below:
This event is part of a worldwide conservation problem. Criminals often have more resources than the good guys, making law enforcement difficult. Politics also regularly come into play. Ecuador has been accused of showing China too much leniency in its aggressive pursuit of natural resources due to the fact that China provides about 60% of Ecuador’s government funding.
