Highlights: Hundreds of Chinese Fishing Vessels Discovered near the Famous Galapagos Islands.

Ecuador has sounded the alarm after its navy discovered a huge fishing fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged vessels.
The famous archipelago inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
More than 200 ships are currently in international waters just outside the exclusive economic zone around the island.
Their presence has already raised the prospect of serious damage to the delicate marine ecosystem.
An environment minister said that the fleet’s size and aggressiveness against marine species is a big threat to the balance of species in the Galapagos.
Chinese fishing vessels come every year to the seas around the Galapagos, but this year’s fleet is one of the largest seen in recent years.
Galapagos was declared a Unesco world heritage site in 1978.
Officials said that the unchecked Chinese fishing just on the edge of the protected zone is ruining Ecuador’s efforts to protect marine life in the Galapagos.
The Galapagos Marine Reserve has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of shark species, including endangered whale and hammerhead varieties.
Ecuador’s president Lenín Moreno described the archipelago as “one of the richest fishing areas and a seedbed of life for the entire planet.”
The Galapagos is visited by a quarter of a million tourists every year as a “living museum and a showcase for evolution.”
The Ecuadorean navy has been monitoring the fishing fleet since it was spotted last week.

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Published by Chromoscience