Chinese fishing near Galapagos Islands raises fears for wildlife

August 06, 2020

Three weeks ago, the Ecuadorian navy encountered a flotilla of nearly 260 fishing vessels sailing under Chinese flags off the coast of the Galapagos Islands.

“This is the fourth year in a row that this has happened. They are coming here because the area is extremely rich in fish due to the confluence of ocean currents,” Luis Suárez, director of the Ecuadorian conservation NGO “Conservación Internacional Ecuador,” told DW.

The fishing trawlers had traveled around 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles) from the coast of China to the Galapagos Islands, which belong to Ecuador.

The islands are famous for their unique flora and fauna and have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.

Read more: An appetite for dried seahorse in China could spell the marine animal’s demise

A concerning situation

In China, experts say there is no danger of overfishing near the Galapagos. Wang Yamin, an expert on fishing at Shandong University, told DW that there is no danger of overfishing in the region.

“A flotilla of 260 boats should not be concerning, because there are really very large fish stocks there,” he said.

Map of Galapagos Islands

Marine biologist Cesar Penaherrera doesn’t agree. “We don’t know what these fishing fleets are really up to, and we don’t know how much they fish,” he told DW. “We only know that it is a large number of ships. And they catch fish and squid that are transported to other boats that they then bring to port.”

Penaherrera, director of MigrMar, an international network of scientists studying ocean life in the eastern Pacific, is concerned that overfishing risks the collapse of the fish population in the waters around the Galapagos.

“It is a very concerning situation,” he said.

And his concerns are not unfounded. In 2017, the crew of a Chinese ship was sentenced in Ecuador to several years in prison for illegally catching endangered hammerhead and silk sharks. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in East and Southeast Asia.

Chinese boats don’t break the law

However, international maritime law can limit the prosecution of possible violations.

“The Chinese boats are fishing in international waters and not in the exclusive economic zone of Ecuador,” said Chinese fishing expert Wang. Ecuadorian authorities also confirmed this.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which both China and Ecuador have signed, stipulates that countries have the sole right to resources within a 200-nautical-mile zone (about 370 kilometers) off their coasts.

States have no claim to areas beyond that zone. The Chinese boats do not operate within that zone, and therefore do not violate international law or Ecuador’s sovereign rights.

Workers unload seafood from Chinese fishing boats

China’s demand for seafood has been increasing alongside the country’s increasing purchasing power for years, says Wang

Calls for expanded protection

However, Norman Wray, president of the Galapagos Government Council, sees room for improvement.

“The Convention on the Law of the Sea itself recognizes the need to seek agreements to balance the problems of species protection. And this is already being tackled,” he told DW, adding that Ecuador is proposing a 350-nautical-mile protection zone to protect the biological diversity in the Galapagos Archipelago.

He also said stricter rules on controlling activities in international waters would have to be passed.

Read more: Tourism: Boon or threat for the Galapagos?

Wang said the excitement over fishing in Ecuador has been overblown by the media. ” China has no real conflicts of interest with Ecuador because Ecuador rarely fishes in international waters,” he said, adding that the proposed expanded protection zone is nonsense.

“No country can enlarge its economic zone just like that, that’s why there is international law.”

It is not without irony, however, that China is doing exactly this in the South China Sea, where it claims waters that are several hundred kilometers away from its coast.

China pays for long voyages

According to Wang, China’s demand for seafood has been increasing alongside the country’s increasing purchasing power for years, and this demand is being met by Chinese fishing fleets on the high seas.

In 2016, more than 800 ocean-going fishing boats sailed under the Chinese flag, according to a study on fishing economics published in the journal Sciences Advances.

However, the study also indicated that Chinese fishing in far away waters is not profitable in many cases, due to maintenance and fuel costs. The long voyages are not due to better fishing or high demand, but rather heavy state subsidies.

The subsidies are a product of China’s “remote water fishing” strategy from the 1990s. Because of overfishing, China’s coastal waters became less profitable. Beijing responded with government-sponsored development of deep-sea fishing capacity.

But there are also signs China is willing to limit its catch. In June, Beijing said octopus fishing in the Galapagos Islands would be banned in the period from September to November.

Reporting by Cui Mu and Diego Zuniga.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Forged in fire

This aerial view of Isla Sombrero Chino reveals the Galapagos’ geological origins. Up to 5 million years ago, magma bubbling up from a hot spot in the Earth’s crust cooled and hardened into these remote islands. They lie nearly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) off the Ecuadorian mainland in South America.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Perfectly adapted

Secluded by their distance from other lands, plants and animals on the islands evolved independently – meaning the Galapagos are rich in endemic species, or those that can be found nowhere else on earth. This lava cactus is one, perfectly adapted to thrive on inhospitable lava fields where very few other organisms survive.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Water-loving lizard

One of the most unusual of the archipelago’s endemic speces is the marine iguana – the only lizard in the world that makes a life foraging in seawater. They graze on algae, and can dive up to 9 meters deep. But the marine iguana is at risk from human-introduced pathogens – as well as pigs, dogs and cats, which were brought to the islands by people and, given the chance, will feast on iguana eggs.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Depending on each other to survive

Red rock crabs are not found exclusively on the Galapagos Islands. But the local population has a unique adaptation: The crabs have been observed feeding on ticks from the islands’ marine iguanas, in a symbiotic relationship thought to benefit both lizard and crustacean.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Marathon fliers

Frigatebirds are found across the tropics, favoring remote islands where they breed in colonies of up to 5,000 birds. A common sight on the Galapagos Islands, they can fly thousands of kilometers at a time. Yet one of the archipelago’s two frigatebird species – the magnificent frigatebird – is now recognized as genetically distinct from relatives elsewhere.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Gentle giants

Giant tortoises survive only on two remote archipelagos, the Galapagos and Aldabra in the Indian Ocean. The lumbering reptiles can live for more than 100 years. Hunting reduced Galapagos tortoise numbers from around 250,000 in the 16th century to just 3,000 in the 1970s. Conservation efforts have seen populations rebound, and 20,000 now inhabit in the islands.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Land lightly

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Galapagos each year. But careful steps are taken to minimize their impact on biodiversity. Cruise ships anchor offshore, and visitors can only get on to the islands by dinghy. They’re not allowed to bring food, or touch local wildlife. Most Galapagos animals have no fear of humans, because they evolved without exposure to predators.

Tortoise meets tourist on the Galapagos

Playing to the crowd

Galapagos sea lions breed exclusively on the remote archipelago and on Isla de la Plata, just off the Ecuadorian mainland. Their loud bark, playful nature and agile grace in the water make these gregarious animals a favorite with tourists. They have little fear of humans – but once in the water must take care not to end up as lunch for sharks or orcas.

Author: Nils Zimmermann