Ecuador will hold a dialogue with the foreign ministers of four countries to analyze the presence of a gigantic fishing fleet, mainly Chinese, that fishes intensively in South Pacific seas and that is very close to the Galapagos Islands, it was reported on Monday.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Luis Gallegos said at a press conference that “I will speak with each foreign minister (from Colombia, Panama, Peru and Chile) about future projections of a common strategy on this issue.” Those countries are members of the South Pacific Commission.
At the end of June, a fleet of about 260 deep draft ships arrived very close to the Galapagos Islands, where it alerted the Ecuadorian government, which is keeping it under surveillance by members of the country’s navy guarding the archipelago exclusion zone. .
Gallegos said that in addition to Chinese ships, that fleet is also made up of ships from Liberia and Panama, while adding that the concern and discomfort of the Ecuadorian government has been channeled through the diplomatic channel to the Chinese government.
The Galapagos Islands were declared in 1979 Natural Heritage of Humanity, attending to their unique animal and plant, terrestrial and marine species in the world and on which the English scientist Charles Darwin relied to elaborate his famous theory of the evolution of species .
–
