What they are doing is technically lawful. They are outside of the border. However, the issue is that fish do not know of boundaries. Mass fishing so close to the Galapagos creates risk to the ecosystem. Many endangered marine life have been put at risk with what these fishermen are doing. The fishermen have disabled trackers, renamed ships, and have left debris, making it difficult to get rid of the vessels. Ecuador has been fighting to remove the fleets. They have been communicating with China in hopes that they would help. Sadly, they aren’t trying very hard to contact their people. Ecuador has owed money to China for years. They are about 8.5 billion dollars in debt just with China. The country has had many issues with the economy, even before Covid-19. There isn’t much that they can do.
So far the felt has been fishing for a total of 73,000 hours. In that time they have managed to acquire thousands of tonnes of fish and squid. Many of these creatures are food for many predators that live on the islands. A large drop in this marine marine life could lead to a large drop of all life on the Galapagos. The islands are in great danger with that large of a fleet being there. If you are interested in helping protect the islands, the petition is linked below. Without help the Galapagos have an impending doom.
Cites:
The Guardian
ABC News
The Conversation UK
Wolves Weekly 