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Photo taken from: The Galapagos Conservation Trust https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/wildlife/scalloped_hammerhead_shark/

In 2017, Ecuador jailed 20 Chinese men after intercepting a Chinese vessel near the Galapagos Islands with freezers illegally carrying 6,000 sharks, some of them endangered hammerheads. 

A similar story happened in 2018. Last year, 245 vessels were detected in the area and in the past few days, local fishermen have spotted ONCE AGAIN a massive Chinese fishing fleet (to be exact, 260+ fishing cargo refrigeration vessels) forming a line on the edge of the Galapagos protection zone (check out https://www.vesselfinder.com/ to get updates in real-time), which is home to the largest shark biomass in the world. A whale shark, named Hope, already stopped sending signals of its location back in May. Similarly, according to Global Activism, in the last 48 hours, the number of stranded and dead whales, dolphins, sea turtles and sharks has increased.

BBC - “The Galapagos Islands are a UNESCO’s World Heritage site and the largest marine reserve in the world. The zone between the Ecuadorian mainland and the Galapagos, the site where the Chinese vessels are located, is a major migration route for those endangered species that travel through for breeding, feeding, and to seek refuge. This threatens to decimate the archipelago’s biodiversity,” especially as species don’t understand borders. Vessels also contaminate our pristine and preserved waters, leaving tons of trash behind. Furthermore, most of the sharks that are not processed are thrown back to the ocean without their fins (which are highly demanded in  Asian markets).

So far, neither the Ecuadorian government nor the United Nations have spoken about this.

The citizens of Ecuador and the world demand urgent answers to stop allowing  Chinese vessels to get away with this, disrespecting our seas, and most importantly, our biodiversity, backed by the Ecuadorian Constitution.

Help us sign this petition so that it can add pressure on our leaders to act NOW. Even if you are not Ecuadorian, join so that we can protect this natural wonder which belongs to all of us. Let's prevent opaque bilateral or regional agreements, typical of China made with low-income coastal nations, from happening.