The “Hualcopo”, a former Chinese vessel seized for illegal fishing, is now used by the Ecuadorian navy in the fight against environmental predators.
Ideograms and a sculpture of a Chinese god reveal the past of the “Hualcopo” vessel, which in 2017, under a different name and flag, was seized in the Galapagos Islands for illegal fishing. Now part of the Ecuadorian Navy, it hunts down environmental predators.
In the holds of the boarded “Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999”, a 96-meter vessel flying the Chinese flag, a sinister booty was discovered: 300 tons of fish, piled up and butchered, including endangered species such as hammerhead and thresher sharks.
Here it is three years later, modified by the Ecuadorian navy with a new mission to become a key player in the protection of the country’s coasts and the precious Galapagos archipelago in the Pacific.
“It was shocking the amount of fish in the holds. There were authorized species, but also sharks already stripped of their fins,” recalls Jonathan Bastidas, a 36-year-old corporal in the Ecuadorian Navy, who took some impressive photos during the seizure.
Military Exercises to Combat Illegal Fishing
AFP accompanied this non-commissioned officer and his team as part of the Galapex III military exercises, an international campaign in which 14 countries cooperate to fight illegal fishing and other threats to marine biodiversity.
During these exercises, from June 23 to July 9, the « Hualcopo » symbolized the Ecuadorian Navy’s commitment to protecting the ocean and, in particular, a space as rich and fragile as the Galapagos, considered a sanctuary for sharks and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
While the crew and mission of the « Hualcopo » have radically changed today, the fine wooden sculpture of the Chinese protective deity Nezha in the ship’s central command cabin continues to be revered with incense and coins as offerings.
The crew of the « Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 » was sentenced in 2017 to three years in prison, and its owners were ordered to pay a six million dollar fine.
Able to carry 640 tons of goods, its holds have been adapted to store drinking water and supplies for war corvettes and coast guard ships patrolling Ecuadorian waters.
It also transports food to the islands in case of shortages.
The Fish-Rich Waters of the Galapagos
The Hualcopo sails in the particularly fish-rich waters of the Galapagos, off islands inhabited by iguanas, tortoises, and birds that exist only there.
The archipelago is a paradise located 1,000 kilometers from the Ecuadorian coast, besieged by fishing fleets, mainly Chinese, that are increasingly coming to plunder marine resources at the edges of Ecuadorian waters.
In 2020, the South American country reported that about 300 ships were circling its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and turning off their radars to avoid detection.
Regarding the « Hualcopo, » « while it was a ship that transported illegal fishing from the Galapagos marine reserve, it now strengthens our efforts against illegal fishing, » reaffirmed Commander Boris Rodas aboard La Loja, another ship participating in the military exercises.
Canada, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, and Peru, among others, participated in Galapex III.
In the archipelago, drug trafficking is also a constant threat. Between January and July, security forces seized 149 tons, on track to break the record set in 2023 of 219 tons seized.
Source: Geo
