Tensions are rising along the Pacific coast of South America as a huge Chinese fishing fleet of about 300 ships reaches the waters of Peru from the Galપાpagos coast.
In a speech to the United Nations on Tuesday afternoon, President Trump provoked China on various issues ranging from coronavirus to human rights. He described China’s fishing and maritime behavior as “dumping millions and millions of tons of plastic and waste into the oceans, overflowing other countries’ waters and destroying coral reefs.”
Soon after, the U.S. The embassy gave the Chinese mega-fleet a tweet on its shores, accusing it of disabling GPS tracking to change the fleet’s vessel name and limit monitoring of fleet activities.
“Excessive fish causes significant environmental and economic damage,” the tweet said. “Peru cannot afford such a loss.”
This prompted a swift response from the Chinese embassy in Peru, suggesting that the US was lying about the fleet’s environmental and maritime integrity.
“We hope that Peruvians will not be deceived by misinformation in public,” the statement, written in Spanish, noted.
Both Peru and Ecuador have large fishing fleets and are heavily dependent on seafood, for food and valuable export dollars. In 201 In, both countries 4.5. The states captured millions of metric tons of fish, the same as the United States, but according to the World Bank, China accounts for only a quarter of what it harvests from the sea.
A cold, nutrient-rich Humboldt currents off the Pacific coast of South America will benefit both countries, helping to feed the world’s most productive fishing grounds. This year, China’s fishing fleet has threatened the security of food resources, the biggest conflict involving China’s pressure to harvest seafood from the world’s oceans.
In Guayaquil, Ecuador, fishing boats land on the Rio Guayaquil.
(Caroline Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Beginning in July, the Ecuadorian government and international environmental groups began searching for the mega-fleet, which stood on the very shores of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Ecuadorian National Park Galapagos Marine Reserve.
The reserve covers more than 1,000 square miles of protected sea, located approximately miles0000 miles off the Ecuadorian coast. More than 20% of the species found within the reserve are unique to the archipelago.
According to a report released by Oceania, which has traced the fleet, the Chinese fishing armada spent about 1,000,000,000 hours of fishing between July 13 and August 13 and engaged in 99% fishing activity on the perimeter of the reserve.
.Gust. On the 2nd, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo issued a statement saying the USA supported Ecuador’s efforts to stop China from “engaging in illegal, unauthorized and uncontrolled fishing”. He added that the U.S. Supports countries whose “economies and natural resources are threatened by PRC-flag vehicles through disregard for the rule of law and responsible fishing systems.” PRC is an acronym for People’s Republic of China.
That month, the United States Coast Guard, in coordination with the Ecuadorian Navy, dispatched one of its ships, the Cutter Bertholph, to the area.
The force patrolled more than 3,000 miles in international and Ecuadorian waters to monitor the mega-fleet.
Last week, the Coast Guard announced a new initiative designed to reduce and prevent illegal, unplanned and uncontrolled fishing in international waters.
According to government and advocacy sources, the mega-fleet has moved southward towards Peruvian waters in recent days.
Like the United States and other countries, Ecuador has an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles off its coast, over which it has sovereign rights to all resources. According to news reports, the government is debating whether it can extend the area to 350,350 nautical miles.
In addition, the South American country is working with neighbors such as Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia to establish a maritime reserve corridor that would shut down the rich, biodiversity of marine life on the Pacific coast from commercial fishing.
Ecuador also owes China. In August, the nation was in talks with the International Monetary Fund and others to restructure the 17 17.4 billion rucher. According to Bloomberg, the talks include loans 2 billion in bilateral loans from China. A deal was struck earlier this month, although it is not clear how much compensation the nation has received from China.
In 2018, Ecuador owed more than 5 6.5 billion to China.
Crabs sold at a fish market in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(Caroline Cole / Los Angeles Times)
China’s worldwide fishing fleet is enormous, suggesting an estimated 17,000 ships carrying water off the coast of China. In contrast, the U.S. Reports about 300 fishing vessels in international waters.
The waters near China have largely receded and the Chinese population has to relocate the nation elsewhere due to about one-third of the world’s fish consumption, including water in West Africa and Latin America, where experts say local governments lack funding and fleets for police water.
At last week’s hearing, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Jim Rish (R-Idaho) praised President Trump for working with allies to counter China’s aggressive actions on multiple fronts.
“Aggressive and illegal Chinese fishing systems violate the territorial integrity of Latin American countries along the coast, raising concerns about long-term security,” Rishch said.
