#SOSGalapagos

In 2017, 20 Chinese citizens were jailed by Ecuadorian authorities after intercepting a Chinese ship near the Galapagos Islands with freezers that illegally transported 6,000 sharks, some of them endangered hammerhead sharks.

A similar story happened in 2018. Last year, 245 vessels were detected in the area, and in recent days, local fishermen have ONCE SEEN a Chinese fishing fleet (to be exact, 260+ fishing vessels) forming a line on the edge of the Galapagos protection zone (you can go to https://www.vesselfinder.com/en and see the status of the fleet in real time) that is home to the world’s largest shark biomass. A whale shark, Esperanza, stopped sending signs of its location on May 5. Also, according to Global Activism, in the last 48 hours the number of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and beached and dead sharks have increased.

BBC – “The Galapagos Islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest marine reserve in the world. The area between the Ecuadorian continent and the Galapagos, the site of the Chinese vessels, is an important migration route for those endangered species that travel to reproduce, feed and seek refuge. This threatens to extinguish the archipelago’s biodiversity, “especially since the species do not understand border limits. Ships also leave huge traces of trash in our usually pristine and preserved waters. Furthermore, most of the unprocessed sharks are thrown into the ocean without their fins (something that is in high demand in Asian markets).

So far, neither the Ecuadorian government nor the United Nations has spoken on the matter.

The citizens of Ecuador and the world demand urgent responses to stop allowing Chinese vessels to get away with it, disrespecting our seas and, even more importantly, our biodiversity, protected by the Ecuadorian Constitution. Help us sign this petition to pressure our leaders to act NOW. Even if you are not Ecuadorian, come together to protect this natural wealth that belongs to all of us.