[ad_1]
Published:
The Chinese fishing fleet is by far the largest in the world, consisting of 17,000 vessels.
Now there are increasing accusations that he is looting the world’s oceans.
“They start everything up,” an Ecuadorian fishing captain told The Guardian.
Researcher Jonathan Green had followed the female whale shark “Hope” in the sea off the Ecuadorian Galapagos Islands for 280 days.
Suddenly, “Hope” disappeared from the screen.
Instead, the satellite image was littered with dozens of other spots, The Guardian reports. They are believed to have belonged to the huge Chinese fishing fleet that has been fishing directly off Ecuador’s territorial waters in the archipelago for a few weeks.
“I have no proof, but my hypothesis is that it was caught by a boat from the same fishing fleet,” Green told the British newspaper.
Photo: CFP
The Chinese fishing fleet was discovered in early August by the Ecuadorian navy and has been found to consist of more than 300 vessels.
The Galapagos Islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The meeting between hot and cold water around the archipelago has created an exceptional diversity of life.
“Throw everything up”
The Chinese fishing fleet was discovered in early August by the Ecuadorian navy and has been found to consist of more than 300 vessels. Each of the Chinese boats can have up to five hundred fishing lines, and each line has thousands of hooks, according to The Guardian.
Fishing is done non-stop, with no observers on board. The catch is transferred to “mother boats” that unload in ports far from the fishing water.
– They start everything, says an Ecuadorian tuna fisherman.
Communication extinguished
According to the Ecuadorian Navy, half of its fleet has shut down their satellite communications at least once in the last month, in violation of current regulations, Reuters reports.
– They do not want us to know what they are doing and what activities they are carrying out, says the country’s Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin, according to the news agency.
This is not the first time that Chinese fishing boats have fished on a large scale near the archipelago. Three years ago a single ship was discovered to contain 6,000 frozen sharks, according to National Geographic.
Photo: Galapagos National Park / AP
In 2017, a Chinese ship was inspected off the Galapagos Islands that contained thousands of sharks and other species of fish, several of them in danger of extinction.
Aroused anger
The discovery of the latest fleet has enraged Ecuador, both the authorities and the local fishermen and the general public.
China’s fishing fleet is by far the largest in the world and has been overfished in much of the world. According to Eco Business magazine, China’s international fishing fleet has been associated with illegal fishing for years.
Photo: Brochure / Getty Images AsiaPac
Chinese fishing boats off South Korea.
However, there are some indications that the giant country China may have absorbed some of the criticism. Several new rules will take effect in the fall, including higher fines for captains who fish illegally.
17,000 ships
According to The Guardian, the Chinese embassy in Ecuador claims that the country is a “responsible fishing nation” with “zero tolerance” against illegal fishing.
Chinese fish around the world.
And recently, the Overseas Development Institute think tank concluded that China’s total “long-distance” fishing fleet consists of 16,966 vessels. A figure five times higher than the previous assumptions. Alfonso Daniels, a co-author of the report, called the discovery “alarming.”
“Scary”
– Millions of people, especially in poor coastal countries, depend directly on their fishery resources for their survival and food security.
Steve Trent, director of the Environmental Justice Foundation, tells The Guardian that the rest of the world must do more to prevent illegal Chinese fish from entering the market if fish populations are not to collapse:
– What is happening in the Galapagos Islands is happening in places around the world and it is scary.
Published:
