Seven European parliamentarians, members of the Committee on Fisheries (PECH), spent two days checking the progress made by Ecuador in the fight against illegal fishing. They visited companies, met with unions and the authorities, who with this progress are asking the European Union to withdraw the yellow card that Ecuador issued in 2019 as an alert. Pierre Karleskind, president of PECH, comments on what the commission was able to determine and whether it is enough to return to the green card.

The European Union informed Ecuador of a yellow card in 2019, what have they now discovered?

What we managed to verify is that from 2019 until today, a lot has been done in this country, in particular, this law from 2020 was adopted – the new Fisheries Act, which was a very important change compared to the previous law, which was very old, 50 years ago, and this new law established a clear legal framework to fight this illegal fishing; and we confirmed that this law is being implemented and it was a very pleasant surprise to see that this law is being implemented quickly and that the country is mobilizing to implement it.

I can say that in the end the yellow card was not the way to the red card, quite the opposite, that’s what we expected, it was the way to the green card.

Progress in Ecuador’s fisheries control over the past five years impressed European delegates

What are the next steps for Ecuador to leave the yellow card after this visit?

We are the European Parliament, but the one who decides is the European Commission, which must give the green card. When we return, we will write a report and forward it to the European Commission. In this report, we will say everything that we have seen as parliamentarians, i.e. the progress achieved and, above all, the commitment at the political level, as well as at the level of industry and all protagonists, but we are not the entity that decides, We did not come here to carry out an inspection, but to check, especially, politically aspect; but I am convinced that 2023 will be the year in which the green card will be issued, but I cannot say that, I cannot announce it.

Is this report that you will submit upon your return binding for any decision of the European Commission?

No, our report is not binding on the European Commission, we are not agents of the European Commission nor do we have technical functions.

Are there other countries besides Ecuador that are in the same situation, and which MEPs have visited or plan to visit?

Yes, of course there are other countries that have a yellow card, and even those that have a red card, but partly due to COVID, we have not carried out missions of this type in the last two years and we have no visits of this type planned in the near future.. We had the will. carry out this political mission here in Ecuador because we are very attached to the relationship we have with Ecuador, it is not just any country for us, we have a trade agreement, the bilateral relationship is extremely important with your country, there is a 1000 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank as an investment to Ecuador, for us it is a country that has great value.

Is it true that they stated that the controls applied in Ecuador exceed those of some European countries?

We didn’t really say that. What we were able to verify is that it is clear that Ecuador is on the right track and that the controls are also at the highest level in terms of international criteria, and what particularly struck us is that margin of tolerance that we talk about a lot in Europe, there is a big debate about this margin of tolerance and there we could verify that Ecuador is more demanding than Europe, but in other issues Ecuador is less demanding, and what we are convinced of is that Ecuador can become a model country, Ecuador is perhaps the best and continues on the path it already has today, if it continues to improve it could be the best and could really become a model country both in Latin America and in the entire Pacific, speaking of the ability to control fishing vessels.

The new fisheries law and the electronic platform, one of the advances that Ecuador will show the European commissioners so that the ‘yellow card’ can be reversed

What consequences does the energy crisis facing Europe, due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, have on trade relations with suppliers, including Ecuador?

We will have to see the consequences of this crisis concretely in numbers, it is too early to know, of course there is an energy crisis in Europe, but all experts think that it will last only one more year and that in a year. from now energy prices could start to fall. Indeed, for one year, energy prices have risen a lot, we had a difficult first winter, we are going through a difficult second winter, but normally the crisis should be resolved in 2024. These are two difficult years, these are the things that happen, we have seen, for example, the export numbers of shrimp from Ecuador, that there was also a difficult period when exports dropped a lot, and then grew spectacularly again.

Autonomous quotas in the EU worry the Ecuadorian tuna sector

The visit of MEPs to the country was used by representatives of the national tuna industry to express concern about the policy of autonomous quotas for which the European Union (EU) will analyze the increase so that European industries buy more tuna of Chinese origin.

Ecuador’s concerns are focused on the fact that the EU is increasingly increasing these quotas to countries that do not have trade agreements with Europe, which affects the benefits that Ecuador has in its trade agreement that has been in force since 2017.

Faced with this concern, Pierre Karleskind, President of the Committee on Fisheries (PECH), confirmed the EU’s intention to increase these quotas, which also worries MEPs.

The government is on alert before the international fishing fleet approaches the exclusive economic zone of the Galapagos

“These autonomous quotas were introduced at the request of the European industry and at a time that had its own raison d’être and we agree that they should be so as long as they are limited, limited quantities, if they are autonomous quotas with small quantities of imports they seem correct to us “, said Karleskind, although he admitted that the European Commission expressed its intention to increase these autonomous quotas.

Karleskind handles figures showing that European imports of Chinese tuna have grown from 1,000 tons in 1997 to more than 35,000 tons in 2022, and assures that he will include the concerns of the Ecuadorian tuna industry in his report, which he will present to the European Parliament. “These figures that we mentioned are too many and we think that a limit must be set, that it must be stopped because it is too much”.

He added that after looking into the international study he requested on Chinese fishing, he will write a special report on the impact of that fishing on a global level and the effects it can have in terms of unfair competition in some parts of the world.