The United States should support Ecuador in sending an explicit warning to a vast Chinese fishing fleet off the Galapagos Islands: If any ships enter the Galapagos protection zone, their crews will be seized and prosecuted and their ships sunk.
China’s fishing fleets have a record of similar behavior. In 2017, the Ecuadorian navy seized a Chinese fishing vessel that had been operating in the Galapagos marine reserve. As Reuters noted following the crew’s sentencing, “300 tonnes of near-extinct or endangered animals” were found in the ship’s hold. Considering that the Galapagos reserve is one of the world’s most treasured ecological habitats, home to many species that might otherwise be extinct, it demands robust protection.
China also needs to see a line drawn in the sand or, in this case, a line on the water.
Beijing’s hundreds of thousands-strong fishing fleets are scouring the oceans, destroying the world’s fish and shark populations. Indeed, China’s fishing fleets are to oceanic wildlife what the Chinese Communist Party is to the Uighur people of Xinjiang province: a genocidal threat.
Millions of tons of wildlife are brought back to Chinese ports each year, with overfishing considerations totally absent. But it’s not just wildlife that is suffering. Empowered by the Communist Party’s fetish for bullying, China’s fishing fleets are invading the sovereign waters of other nations and attacking their local fishing crews. As NBC News reported last week, the impact of this fishing piracy has been particularly catastrophic for impoverished North Korean fishing crews. Hundreds wash up dead every year after being attacked by larger, armed Chinese vessels.
This situation is an avoidable outrage but one that is becoming worse each year. As China’s population grows wealthier, demand for fish will keep increasing and so, too, the incentives for overfishing. But as with all its malevolent activities, China will not change course unless so compelled.
That brings us back to the Galapagos Islands. Ecuador said it is monitoring the Chinese fishing fleet. Good, but the U.S. and Latin American nations should make clear their support for Ecuador’s right to protect its sovereignty and the marine reserve. Such statements might encourage Ecuador to take a tougher line here. The Pacific Rim nation has two operational attack submarines and numerous guided missile warships it could deploy to deter the fishing vessels. It also retains a well-trained Naval Infantry Corps. If Beijing wants to challenge the Ecuadorian navy by directing its fishing crews to ignore the latter’s warnings, Ecuador should act to seize the crews and sink their ships.
The current situation is intolerable. If China learns that its piracy will now result in its vessels being transformed into new coral habitats, it is likely to act with a little more humility. The alternative is to sit by and watch as China dragnets all life out of the ocean.
