Chinese fishing fleet movements are monitored near the Galapagos marine reserve

Satellite surveillance systems are activated to control the entry of a boat without authorization.

With a satellite system, the Galapagos National Park Directorate monitors the movements of a Chinese fishing fleet located 198 miles from the end of the archipelago’s marine reserve.

Since Thursday, the Ecuadorian Navy reported that the fishing fleet is made up of about 260 boats and that it is located outside the limit of the Exclusive Insular Economic Zone (EEZ).

Around Galápagos the ZEEI is established, in which Ecuador has jurisdiction and watches for being an ecologically sensitive region and serving as a corridor to an infinity of marine species.

According to satellite information, the ships swarm in a sector of the ocean equidistant between the Galapagos archipelago and the continental coasts of Ecuador.

But, the Ministry of the Environment reported that the maritime fleet and the satellite surveillance systems of the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park are operating to carry out intersection actions in the event of any vessel entering the marine reserve without authorization.

At the moment, a missile corvette is in surveillance in that area, which is attached to other activated control devices.

In August 2017, Ecuador detected a large illegal fishing fleet near the Galapagos consisting of 297 vessels and in 2019, a fishing fleet with 290 vessels was also observed.