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State Department's Take on IUU Fishing in Latin and South America and current initatives

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State Department's Take on IUU Fishing in Latin and South America and current initatives

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This article establishes US's stake in fishing regulation as a large exporter and producer of fish and fish products. It continues by outlining the programs being worked on and the combative actions taken. State.gov is a government-run source of information. Therefore, it will try to make the United States look best in all its decisions, especially the programs they are working on or as a part of.
The SAFE Act, the MSRA, and the SIMP all sound like great successes the US is having, including making an IUU Fishing working group as part of the SAFE Act. These initiatives are key steps in establishing the United States as key enforcers to ensure legal fishing as well as improving seafood traceability. This source is relevant and reliable and shows the official US prospective on necessary actions.

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Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing does not respect rules adopted at either the national or international level. It threatens economic growth, food security, and ocean ecosystems around the world by undermining sustainable fisheries and the law-abiding fishers and communities that depend on them. IUU fishing can take on many forms, ranging from small-scale vessels misreporting their catch or straying into a neighboring country's waters, to coordinated efforts by transnational crime syndicates. IUU fishing can also undermine port and maritime security, as criminal elements may use similar trade routes, landing sites, and vessels as used for trafficking arms, migrants, drugs, and other contraband.

Over one-third of fish and fish products enter into international trade, generating billions in trade revenue. But IUU fishers avoid the operational costs associated with sustainable fisheries management to access the lucrative global fisheries market. IUU fishing puts legitimate producers at a disadvantage in this global market, and results in global losses in the tens of billions of dollars each year. Keys to tackling IUU fishing include eliminating the economic incentives that drive it, ensuring that governments effectively monitor and control their fishing vessels, and building capacity in developing countries for fisheries management, enforcement, and good governance.

As the largest single-country market for fish and fish products, the third largest wild seafood producer, and the fifth largest exporter of fish and fish products, the United States has a particularly strong stake in combating IUU fishing. The Department of State coordinates closely with other federal agencies, including National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) and the U.S. Coast Guard , to implement domestic and international actions related to combatting IUU fishing, including:

Championing the establishment of schemes within regional fisheries management organization (RFMOs) to identify and penalize IUU vessels, limit port and market access by nations that fail to curb IUU fishing, and provide strong monitoring, control, and surveillance of all fisheries;

Implementing the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 ;

Supporting international efforts to better assess and curtail illegal transshipment of fish and fish products at sea;

Working to improve the capacity of developing coastal States to manage their domestic fisheries and to combat IUU fishing, both by building the political will to devote resources to these issues and by providing information, equipment, and expertise from U.S. government agencies;

Utilizing the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to prevent certain fish and fish products identified as being particularly at-risk of IUU fishing and/or seafood fraud from entering the U.S. seafood market;

Supporting international efforts to curb IUU fishing, like the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate IUU Fishing , the Port State Measures Agreement , and the Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization;

Supporting bilateral and cooperative fisheries law enforcement agreements between the U.S. Coast Guard and partner countries known as "" agreements, which support nations with limited resources through personnel training and by placing their enforcement personnel on U.S. vessels, where they may exercise their law enforcement authorities during enforcement operations.

Want to know more about IUU fishing? Visit NOAA Fisheries' Question and Answer on IUU Fishing .

Maritime SAFE Act Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing

The Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act was passed in December 2019 as part of Public Law No: 116-92, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. Under the Maritime SAFE Act, the United States will work through a whole-of-government approach to strengthen the global fight against IUU fishing and maritime security threats, including through a new interagency Working Group on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing . Led by NOAA Fisheries, over 20 U.S. government agencies and offices make up the new Interagency Working Group. The Department is proud to serve alongside NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Coast Guard as co-chairs, and look forward to stepping into the Chair position as it rotates among the three agencies in the future. OES will also lead other work under the Act to combat IUU fishing and the threats it poses to sustainable fisheries, economic and food security, and maritime security.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (MSRA) amended the main U.S. domestic fisheries legislation to add the first-ever comprehensive mandates to improve international fishery conservation and management, with an emphasis on strengthening controls on IUU fishing.The MSRA requires the Secretary of Commerce to provide a biennial report to Congress on international fisheries, which includes identifying States whose vessels have engaged in IUU fishing.The Department of State works closely with the NOAA Fisheries in the lead-up and preparation of this report.

Once a nation is identified, the Department of State works with NOAA Fisheries to initiate a two-year consultation process to encourage that nation to take necessary measures to address the issue for which it was identified.Following these consultations, NOAA Fisheries determines whether to negatively or positively certify the identified nation in the next Report to Congress.A positive certification is issued if the nation has provided evidence of actions that address the activities for which it was identified.A negative certification may result in denial of U.S. port access for fishing vessels of that nation, and potential import restrictions on fish or fish products.

Seafood Import Monitoring Program

The Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) is a key component of a U.S. seafood traceability system designed to prevent the products of IUU fishing or misrepresented seafood from entering the $20.5 billion U.S. market. SIMP created mandatory permitting, data reporting, and record-keeping requirements for U.S. importers of 13 seafood species and species groups identified as being particularly vulnerable to IUU fishing or seafood fraud. These are: Atlantic cod, Atlantic blue crab, abalone, dolphinfish (Mahi Mahi), grouper, red king crab, Pacific cod, red snapper, sea cucumber, sharks, shrimp, swordfish, and albacore, bigeye, skipjack, yellowfin, and bluefin tuna. The information collected through SIMP includes details about what the product is, where and how it was produced, and how it moved through the value chain before reaching the United States. Other programs collect comparable information for U.S.-produced seafood products of the same species. Traceability measures like SIMP help to facilitate legal trade for law-abiding fishers and seafood producers in the United States. OES works closely with NOAA Fisheries to coordinate with U.S. trading partners and support the effective implementation of SIMP.

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Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing - United States Department of State

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Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing does not respect rules adopted at either the national or international level. It threatens economic growth, food security, and ocean ecosystems around the world by undermining sustainable fisheries and the law-abiding fishers and communities that depend on them. IUU fishing can take on many forms, ranging from small-scale vessels [...]

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Concern for Chinese disregard for international Law and illegal fishing in Indo-Pacific (not as much talk of Americas)

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Concern for Chinese disregard for international Law and illegal fishing in Indo-Pacific (not as much talk of Americas)

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This news article is focused on the expanding Chinese influence and overall power grab as well as how the US should be reacting. At the end, there is a concern about the IUU fishing China is engaged in among other issues. It is a partisan article with a more conservative bias, which is seen in the first half of the article where the author highlights where Republicans are calling for more US military presence as a response to China's recent investment and is frames that as a good thing. However, it does use a good amount of quotes from a Biden administration spokesperson at the end to address how they have already and continue to address the issue.
While this article does not have much information about the IUU Fishing situation, it provides good background on China's growing military presence and demonstrates that IUU fishing is just one of the ways China is asserting dominance. This article is also beneficial as it shows a more biased perspective.

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EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are warning that China's "rapid expansion and militarization" of the Indo-Pacific is a "significant threat" to the United States and allies around the globe, while the Biden administration maintains it has made its concerns "clear" about Beijing's "shadowy, unspecified deals" in the region.

Republican Rep. Lance Gooden led Republican colleagues Nancy Mace, Ken Buck, Lisa McClain and Louie Gohmert in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which was obtained by Fox News. It warned that if China is "left unchecked," the U.S. and allies "will be unprepared and unable to respond to China's presence in the region."

"China's rapid expansion and militarization of the Indo-Pacific region is a significant threat to the United States and our allies across the globe," Gooden and his colleagues wrote.

They noted that, in recent years, China "has used coercion and intimidation to demand policy changes, assert illegal maritime claims, and threaten countries that work with the United States or our allies.
BIDEN ATTENDING G7, NATO SUMMITS AMID 'THE MOST SERIOUS SECURITY SITUATION IN DECADES'
"Beijing reaffirmed its intent to maintain high levels of defense spending to transform the People's Liberation Army into a powerful force operating in and beyond the Indo-Pacific region," they wrote. "If left unchecked, the United States and our allies will be unprepared and unable to respond to China's presence in the region."

One example Gooden pointed to was Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visiting several Indo-Pacific countries in recent weeks to "expand China's military presence in the region" - specifically the Solomon Islands, which recently signed a security agreement with China allowing the PRC to "send military personnel and Chinese warships to utilize their ports for 'logistical replenishment.'"

"This agreement establishes a concerning precedent and could begin a domino effect destabilizing the entire region," Gooden wrote.

Gooden and Republicans demanded Blinken "undertake all necessary measures to strengthen existing and foster new relationships in the strategic Indo-Pacific region to counter China's growing influence."
US CAN RELY ON WHAT CHINA DECRIES AS THE 'ASIAN NATO' FOR DETERRENCE, FORMER OFFICIALS SAY
Gooden pointed to the U.S. treaty with the Republic of Kiribati, which has been in place since 1979, and prohibits Kiribati from "making facilities for military purposes available to third parties except with the agreement of the United States."

"Despite this treaty, the PRC has previously had a military operation under the guise of a space tracking station on Kiribati's South Tarawa Island," they wrote. "Due to China's growing influence in the region, there are concerns that this facility may reopen in direct violation of our agreement with the Republic of Kiribati."

The Republican lawmakers requested that the State Department review "existing agreements and treaties in the Indo-Pacific region and prepare to utilize any existing authorities or privileges we may have in the region to counter China."

They also urged the State Department to "reiterate to our regional partners that agreements with China will undermine our relationship and impact our ability to provide foreign and military aid in the region."

"Finally, we request you begin negotiations with the Republic of Kiribati regarding creating a military outpost on the island to aid with logistical replenishments of the Pacific Fleet and counter the expansion of China's influence in the region," they wrote. They also requested "strategic clarity by making it clear to our allies and the world that the United States will honor our commitments to our allies in the Indo-Pacific region and counter China's aggression and expansion."

A Gooden aide pointed to the Kiribati treaty and said the United States "could potentially claim sovereign control over Kiribati if it detects moves by China to establish a base in the region."

"China's military expansion threatens to destabilize the Pacific region and poses a significant threat to both the United States and our allies," Gooden told Fox News. " The Biden Administration cannot continue their policy of appeasement and must take clear and decisive action to counter China now before an escalation or conflict occurs."

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Thursday that the department "appreciate(s) the bicameral and bipartisan support from Congress for deeper engagement in the Indo-Pacific."

"As we have said before, we must match action with our policies," the spokesperson told Fox News. "The president has urged Congress to pass the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which would authorize over $3.25 billion in diplomatic and foreign assistance resources for the Indo-Pacific."

The State Department spokesperson said the Biden administration envisions an Indo-Pacific that is "open, connected, prosperous, resilient and secure - and we are ready to work together with each nation to achieve it."

According to the State Department, in the last year, the U.S. has modernized alliances, strengthened partnerships and forged "innovative links among them to meet urgent challenges, from competition with the People's Republic of China to climate change to the pandemic."

"These accomplishments form the basis of the administration's Indo-Pacific Strategy," the spokesperson said, adding that the strategy "outlines President Biden's vision to more firmly anchor the United States in the Indo-Pacific and strengthen the region in the process."
TAIWAN WARNS CHINA IT HAS A MISSILE CAPABLE OF STRIKING BEIJING
The Biden administration is continuing to broaden engagement in the region, the spokesperson said, referring to President Biden's recent trip to Japan and Blinken's trip to the Pacific Islands.

"As we have said, each nation will make its own sovereign decisions," the spokesperson told Fox News. "We, along with allies and partners, including those in the region, have made our concerns clear about China's shadowy, unspecified deals with little regional consultation."

The administration welcomes "contributions by the PRC to regional development, so long as it adheres to high standards, including in areas such as transparency, the rule of law, sustainable financing and respect for the autonomy of development aid recipients."

"However, as the PRC's involvement in the region has grown, we have seen a range of increasingly problematic behavior, including its assertion of unlawful maritime claims and the ongoing militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea; predatory economic activities, including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; investments that undermine good governance and promote corruption; and human rights abuses," the spokesperson continued.

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House GOP warns of China's 'rapid expansion' in Indo-Pacific as Biden admin lays out vision for the region

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EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are warning that China's "rapid expansion and militarization" of the Indo-Pacific is a "significant threat" to the United States and allies around the globe, while the Biden administration maintains it has made its concerns "clear" about Beijing's "shadowy, unspecified deals" in the region. Republican Rep.

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This recent article from the New York Times offers a more liberal leaning perspective on the Chinese presence near the Galapagos and off the coast of South America. The main focus is how China is conducting more fishing operations than ever far from its own shores, and that fishing is often reported incorrectly or illegal all together. The bias tries to get the reader to come to the decision themselves that China is in the wrong by using leading language and directing the reader that "you can see" or that "everyone knows," which enables the reader to validate their point while only referencing one specific source and referring to other information as from "some experts".
This article is successful at teaching the reader why China needs to fish more, and also emphasizes the major concerns that are present due to the fishing expansion and the IUU practices China is engaging in. The information is relevant and recent.

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A single country has accounted for about 80 percent of the fishing in the international waters just off Argentina, Ecuador and Peru this year. And it is not a South American country. It is China.

In recent years, hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels have begun to operate almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, off the coast of South America. The ships move with the seasons, from Ecuador to Peru to Argentina. China has focused on these faraway waters after depleting fish stocks closer to its own shores.

You can see the scale of this fishing effort in the maps that are part of a Times project by Steven Lee Myers, Agnes Chang, Derek Watkins and Claire Fu.

China's fishing expansion is part of a much larger story, of course. As the world's most populous country, and one with an economy that has grown rapidly in recent decades, China has a growing global footprint - economically, diplomatically and militarily. It needs so much fish to feed a middle class that has become vastly larger over the past generation.

China's rise has brought great benefits to its citizens: Many fewer of them live in poverty. But that rise is also creating problems for the rest of the world. China's leaders have been willing to flout international law to accomplish their goals. Even when China is following the law, it sometimes harms other countries for the sake of helping itself (which, to be fair, powerful nations have long done).

The fishing expansion is a good example. The Times project focuses on South America, because China's fishing around the Galápagos Islands has become a flash point. Ecuador's government accused Chinese boats of fishing too close to Ecuador's shores, and both local fishing crews and environmental groups are worried that China is depleting local fish stocks.

"Our sea can't handle this pressure anymore," said Alberto Andrade, a fisher from the Galápagos, who has organized an effort to expand protections. "The industrial fleets are razing the stocks, and we are afraid that in the future there will be no more fishery."

Some experts are also worried that China is underreporting how much fish it catches: Suspicious movement patterns suggest that some ships may be turning off their transponders to hide some catches. "The concern is the sheer number of ships and the lack of accountability, to know how much is being fished out and where it's going to," said Marla Valentine, an oceanographer with the conservation group Oceana.

These issues apply to more than just the waters off South America. Steven Lee Myers, the lead reporter on the project and a former Beijing bureau chief for The Times, told me that China had also expanded its fishing off the coasts of Africa and South Pacific nations, as well as Antarctica.

"It reflects the global economic reach of China," Steven said. "Everyone knows it's a huge and growing economy, despite the latest headwinds, but the idea that it built a commercial fishing fleet like this seems to have huge implications, for the environment, of course, but also diplomacy and geopolitics, even national security across the Pacific - which is why the Trump and Biden administrations both focused on it."

You can see the project here - including the story of Hai Feng 718, a large carrier vessel that keeps the fishing boats supplied and ferries their catches back to China, so that the boats can keep fishing, without pause.

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Monday night rivalry: The Dallas Cowboys held off their N.F.C. East rival New York Giants 23-16 last night. Dallas QB Cooper Rush, thrust into the spotlight in Week 1, held his own as his defense took care of the rest. The game closed out a topsy-turvy Week 3.

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An N.F.L. superstar in a scary accident: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was involved in a one-car crash leaving the team practice facility yesterday afternoon. His injuries were not life-threatening and he was transported to the hospital, where his agent said he was "alert and responsive."

On TikTok, the same features that make videos of dances go viral also make it easier to get conspiracy theories in front of millions of people. Attempts to limit falsehoods, including by banning hashtags, haven't always worked, as The Times has explained: #StopTheSteallll, made to get around a ban on #StopTheSteal and spread disinformation about the 2020 election, received nearly a million views before it was disabled.

Even before the 2020 election, TikTok said that it was taking down videos, making it easier for users to report misinformation and working with fact checkers. Most recently, the company has announced steps to stop politicians from spreading or benefiting from misinformation, including by restricting political campaigning.

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A single country has accounted for about 80 percent of the fishing in the international waters just off Argentina, Ecuador and Peru this year. And it is not a South American country. It is China. In recent years, hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels have begun to operate almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, off the coast of South America.

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Anna Portella Torrent - Video Journalist - Thomson Reuters | LinkedIn
Anna Portella (@annaportella__) • Instagram photos and videos
Anna Portella is at the LATAM Desk of Reuters in Mexico City, Mexico for Reuters. In this article, Portella is in Puerto Ayora, Ecuador, and is reporting on the reactions of Ecuadorians on the marine reserve's expansion in January 2022. Essentially, they believe that the law enforcement is focused more on ensuring the locals are obeying the new statute and not so much on the large commercial and international vessels.
Her interviews of people in the fish market help give a broad picture of how the people directly impacted by the situation view the efforts to protect endangered species.

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PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Though he makes a living from the protected waters around Ecuador's storied Galapagos Islands, fisherman Pedro Asensio has his doubts about an expanded marine reserve created last month by his country's government.

"What for? If, really, they can't even protect the first one," Asensio, 48, said as he sat on a bench by Puerto Ayora's fish market.

Born in the 15,000-inhabitant municipal capital of the Galapagos' Santa Cruz Island, Asensio is one of 460 fishers who ply their trade within the 40 nautical miles that comprise the first Galapagos reserve.

Only small-scale, manual fishing by Galapagos residents is allowed within the first reserve, which was created in 1998 and measures 138,000 square kilometers.

The additional 60,000 square kilometers (23,170 square miles) added last month is the first step in a plan by Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama to create a migration corridor between protected areas for species threatened by climate change and industrial fishing.

Fishing is banned outright in half of the new reserve, while in the other half lines with multiple hooks, known locally as palangre, are forbidden, though fishermen are allowed to use manual techniques like scuba diving to catch lobster.

Environmentalists say the expanded reserve will help protect critically endangered species - including hammerhead sharks, whale sharks and turtles.

But locals say enforcement is wrongly focused on them and not the commercial vessels - including a 300-ship fleet from China - which anchor in international waters near the islands.

"At the 40-mile mark we have come across boats from all countries that enter - even Ecuadorean (commercial) boats," Asensio said.

"We leave this bay and the navy falls on us asking for papers," said fellow fisherman Mateo Gil, 28.

The campaign for an expanded reserve began after the 2017 seizure of Chinese ship Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999, which was carrying 300 tonnes of illegal fishing spoils, including endangered hammerhead sharks.

The ship's owners were fined $6.1 million and the captain and crew were sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Galapagos residents and scientists joined forces through the Mas Galapagos group, urging stricter marine species protection and fishing limitations in the 200-mile sovereign water zone around the islands.

"The (previous) marine reserve has been very efficient at protecting coastal species, principally. Species that were on the path to extinction, like giant turtles, have been rescued," said Mas Galapagos biologist Eliecer Cruz. But protections for migratory species are also key, he said.

Illegal and unsustainable fishing practices are, along with climate change, the top threat to the marine reserve, according to Mas Galapagos studies.

Between 2018 and 2020, 136 unauthorized Ecuadorean industrial fishing vessels were intercepted in the reserve, according to figures from Galapagos national park.

BUOYS AND NETS

And foreign boats also continue to be implicated in potential illegal practices.

In 2020 Ecuador's then-defense minister said half of a mostly Chinese-flagged fleet of some 342 ships parked on the edges of the exclusive economic area had turned off their location systems, making tracking impossible and prompting former President Lenin Moreno to warn the Chinese government that Ecuador would enforce its maritime rights.

So-called "nanny" ships hover just outside the reserve, sending smaller, largely undetectable boats into restricted waters, biologist Cruz said.

Other tactics - including the use of buoys with large underwater netting attached - can prove deadly to endangered species.

"All of this could be solved with fishing regulations that demand all ships have an electronic tracing device or satellite," said Cruz.

When Galapagos fishermen find the buoys with netting, called "plantados", they sell them for up to $30.

"They take our resources," said Eddy Fabricio Asensio, 28, who is Pedro Asensio's nephew.

Eddy had just returned from a 10-day trip to Marchena Island.

"Ten years ago you'd find good fishing close by. Now you have to navigate more."

Ecuador's government said it is confident in existing satellite infrastructure.

"The 'plantados' are a legal fishing method. It may be they cross our areas and then go other places. We can't control that, but when we detect it, we have to go out and confiscate them," said Environment Minister Gustavo Manrique.

No foreign ship had entered Ecuadorean waters for illegal fishing in nine months, Manrique said in mid-January, at the inauguration of the expanded reserve.

The four countries involved in the new corridor met at the end of January with the United Kingdom's Environment Minister, who announced a 2 million pound contribution to support the reserve.

Enforcement challenges are myriad, Puerto Ayora naval captain Carlos Vallejo said, not just for the reserve but further afield.

"It's not 198,000 square kilometers, it's 1.09 million square kilometers of maritime jurisdiction," he said.

It takes two days for a boat from Santa Cruz Island to reach the edge of the exclusive economic area.

The navy have had no reports of unauthorized ships in the 40-mile reserve area and its monitoring systems have not detected industrial ships in those waters, Vallejo said, though he said fishermen should report any industrial ships they spot.

If such a ship were detected the crew would be arrested and handed over to legal and national park authorities, he said.

Reporting by Anna Portella Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Galapagos fishermen skeptical of new marine reserve amid enforcement challenges

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PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Though he makes a living from the protected waters around Ecuador's storied Galapagos Islands, fisherman Pedro Asensio has his doubts about an expanded marine reserve created last month by his country's government. "What for?

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This source is the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations's explanation of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and contains a description of each type. The article defines illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing separately and analyzes the effects of IUU fishing overall. There is little to no partisan bias in this article as it is meant to be an informative webpage.
This article gives good background for the topic in order to better research and understand the problems that arise from IUU fishing.

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Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a broad term that captures a wide variety of fishing activity. IUU fishing is found in all types and dimensions of fisheries; it occurs both on the high seas and in areas within national jurisdiction. It concerns all aspects and stages of the capture and utilisation of fish, and it may sometimes be associated with organized crime. Reference to broad activities classified as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing are included in the IPOA-IUU as follows:

conducted by national or foreign vessels in waters under the jurisdiction of a State, without the permission of that State, or in contravention of its laws and regulations;

conducted by vessels flying the flag of States that are parties to a relevant regional fisheries management organisation but operate in contravention of the conservation and management measures adopted by that organisation and by which the States are bound, or relevant provisions of the applicable international law; or

in violation of national laws or international obligations, including those undertaken by cooperating States to a relevant regional fisheries management organization.

Unreported fishing:

which have not been reported, or have been misreported, to the relevant national authority, in contravention of national laws and regulations; or

are undertaken in the area of competence of a relevant regional fisheries management organisation which have not been reported or have been misreported, in contravention of the reporting procedures of that organisation.

Unregulated fishing:

in the area of application of a relevant regional fisheries management organization that are conducted by vessels without nationality, or by those flying the flag of a State not party to that organization, or by a fishing entity, in a manner that is not consistent with or contravenes the conservation and management measures of that organization; or

in areas or for fish stocks in relation to which there are no applicable conservation or management measures and where such fishing activities are conducted in a manner inconsistent with State responsibilities for the conservation of living marine resources under international law.

IUU fishing undermines national and regional efforts to conserve and manage fish stocks and, as a consequence, inhibits progress towards achieving the goals of long-term sustainability and responsibility. Moreover, IUU fishing greatly disadvantages and discriminates against those fishers that act responsibly, honestly and in accordance with the terms of their fishing authorizations. If IUU fishers target vulnerable stocks that are subject to strict management controls or moratoria, efforts to rebuild those stocks to healthy levels will not be achieved, threatening marine biodiversity, food security for communities who rely on fisheries resources for protein and the livelihoods of those involved in the sector.

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What is IUU fishing? | Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a broad term that captures a wide variety of fishing activity. IUU fishing is found in all types and dimensions of fisheries; it occurs both on the high seas and in areas within national jurisdiction.

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Based in Montevideo, Uruguay
FAO develops voluntary guidelines to combat IUU fishing

This article is publicizing the adoption of the FAO's Voluntary Guidelines of Transshipment. The publication Merco Press is an independent news source (non-governmental) based in Montevideo, Uruguay and was developed to report on the South Atlantic. This news story is fact-based, aiming to present this new guideline in order to establish standards for engaged in transshipment, or transferring fish while underway. There is not a clear opinion present other than the recommendations of the FAO, which is the story being reported on.
I think this is a good step but is nowhere good enough to combat the problem. This story was published on September 12, 2022, meaning that the guidelines have not have time to take effect, but is clear that the Coast Guards and Navies active in the South Atlantic will be the enforcers for this if their respective countries decide to follow the recommendations. Since this is completely voluntary, I am skeptical that many countries will invest the money and resources to adopt the guidelines.

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New step to combat IUU fishing: FAO voluntary guidelines on transshipments

The Voluntary Guidelines for Transshipment, aim to monitor and control transshipment to support sustainable fisheries and further close loopholes

A key intergovernmental forum on fisheries and aquaculture has endorsed new voluntary guidelines governing the transfer of fish between ships, in a move aimed at curbing the Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing that threatens the sustainability of global stocks.

The Voluntary Guidelines for Transshipment, developed by Members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and presented at the 35th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI35), "aim to regulate, monitor and control transshipment to support sustainable fisheries and further close loopholes that enable fish derived from IUU fishing to enter the market," said Manuel Barange, Director of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Division.

Transshipment involves the direct transfer of fish from one vessel to another, regardless of its location, before the cargo is recorded at its final destination.

It can take place in various locations, including ports, coastal waters and the high seas. While transshipment can be essential to reduce operating costs and maximize sustainable fishing opportunities, if not properly regulated it can be used to disguise illegally-caught fish, undermining national, regional and global efforts to curb IUU fishing.

COFI had tasked the FAO Secretariat with undertaking global studies on transshipment to support the development of these Voluntary Guidelines. The research found that a lack of regulation, monitoring and control increases the risk of fish caught through IUU fishing entering the seafood supply chain, jeopardizing the sustainable management of fisheries.

Aim is to provide standards

The objective of the Voluntary Guidelines for Transshipment is to assist States, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), and other intergovernmental organizations by providing standards for developing their policies and regulations that govern transshipment, with a view to integrating these in regulatory frameworks for sustainable fisheries management.

The Guidelines can support fishers, fish processors and others in the sector who act responsibly and in accordance with their fishing authorizations, while helping authorities to monitor and rebuild stocks, conserve marine biodiversity and build sustainability in the long-term.

"These guidelines are a powerful tool with the potential to make a meaningful contribution to combating IUU fishing," said Barange.

Under the Guidelines, it is recommended that States and RFMOs should:

* Ensure that vessels involved in transshipments are authorized by the relevant flag, coastal or port State and that vessels notify the relevant authorities before conducting any type of transshipment.
* Adopt transparent reporting procedures to facilitate the verification of authorizations and transshipment data, allowing for effective monitoring, control and surveillance actions.
* Ensure that all vessels involved in transshipments provide a declaration containing specific data about the quantities of fish, the species and any bycatch.
* Share transshipment data such as vessel lists, notifications, authorizations and declarations, observer and inspections reports, infractions and sanctions.
* Establish reporting procedures to collect and cross-reference information on the quantity of fish landed by species, product form, area, and country of origin for processed fish.

The guidelines will support the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), the first binding international agreement intended to deter and eliminate IUU fishing, which entered into force in 2016, and the updated Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels.

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New step to combat IUU fishing: FAO voluntary guidelines on transshipments

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A key intergovernmental forum on fisheries and aquaculture has endorsed new voluntary guidelines governing the transfer of fish between ships, in a move aimed at curbing the Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing that threatens the sustainability of global stocks.

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InSight Crime Article Playlist with findings from American University's Center for Latin American Studies' Investigation 

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InSight Crime Article Playlist with findings from American University's Center for Latin American Studies' Investigation 

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InSight Crime is the organization taking the lead on investigating IUU Fishing in Central and South America. They have many news articles exposing the IUU Fishing and its affects. The NGO is based internationally in Columbia and does research and writes articles in countries throughout South and Central America.

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This series - the first installment of an investigation shining light into the murky waters of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing - focuses on law enforcement challenges and IUU fishing practices in Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, and Suriname.

Conducted with American University's Center for Latin American & Latino Studies ( CLALS), the two-part investigation paints a picture of IUU fishing in nine countries, examining everything from its perpetrators to its devastating effects on marine life and people, and showing how IUU fishing is coupled with other crimes. Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in South American Seas

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Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in Central American and Caribbean Waters

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This series ­- the first installment of an investigation shining light into the murky waters of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing - focuses on law enforcement challenges and IUU fishing practices in Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, and Suriname.

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Report with the Results of the American University Conference

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Report with the Results of the American University Conference

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In poor coastal villages in Latin America and the Caribbean, fishers are entering the drug trade. The harvesting of sharks as bycatch in Ecuador and Costa Rica, countries known for conservation, is devastating threatened populations. And vessels in China's distant-water fleet are turning off their transponders to plunder South America's waters.

Experts at a panel discussion hosted by InSight Crime and the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (CLALS) at American University made clear that the consequences of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are immediate and enormous across the region. IUU fishing damages livelihoods and marine ecosystems while facilitating other crimes, such as labor abuse and drug trafficking.

But all is not lost, said the experts, who presented ways to go after the perpetrators, increase enforcement capacity, and rein in bad actors. Initiatives for fishers who can no longer make a living at sea are also needed.

Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in South American Seas

"The impact goes beyond the fishing industry," said Matthew Taylor, a professor of international studies at American University who collaborated with InSight Crime on a recently published working paper on IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Philippe Le Billon, a professor at the University of British Columbia, began the conference by highlighting a study he conducted on the connections between drug smuggling and fishing.

While acknowledging that data were limited, Le Billon explained that his study analyzed 292 known cases of vessels engaged in drug trafficking between 2010 and 2017. The findings, he said, show that "more and more small-scale fishermen are getting forced into" drug smuggling.

Paradoxically, small-scale fishers are susceptible to exploitation by drug traffickers because of the effects of IUU fishing practices, such as declining fish stocks and access to fishing grounds. The flow of drug money into local fisheries also can lead to "fishing overcapacity," Le Billon said.

Peter A. Murray, an advisor at the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat, a 17-nation organization that facilitates sustainable fishing in the region's waters, agreed that fishing has increasingly become a vehicle for drug-related money laundering. One of the problems, Murray said, is that IUU fishing is often "treated as a regulatory issue and not as transnational organized crime."

Three countries that are part of CRFM were featured in a recent investigation by InSight Crime and CLALS titled " Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in Central American and Caribbean Waters." Reports in that investigation showed how Jamaica's waters are being poached of lucrative marine life; how Guyana's law enforcement capabilities extend to just a fraction of its waters; and how Suriname's black trade in fishing licenses has created a raft of duplicate boats.

Murray acknowledged that the countries in the CRFM are in desperate need of financial assistance and capacity development to combat IUU fishing. But he pointed out that their efforts often go unnoticed. Despite limitations, he said, "our [member] states are working toward a range of remedies."

Jorge Arturo Jiménez, the general director of the MarViva Foundation, an oceans conservation organization based in Costa Rica, highlighted the devastation wrought by illegal fishing gear, such as purse seine nets that produce massive bycatch, and illegal fishing practices, such as the use of explosives. Closed seasons are not respected, while overfishing creates a downward spiral that leads not only to depleted stocks but also to fishers struggling to earn a living, he said.

Making matters more difficult, he said, is the sheer lack of data.

"You don't know how many people are fishing," Jiménez said, "and you don't know what is being fished."

Concerns about shark-fin exports emerged in discussions about Costa Rica and Ecuador. Over the past five years, Costa Rica exported 455 metric tons of shark fins worth $25 million to Hong Kong, Jiménez told the conference.

Christina Cely, an environmental activist in Ecuador, said Ecuadorean vessels continue to land massive amounts of shark as bycatch, another focus of the "Plundered Oceans" investigation. Fishing for sharks is illegal in Ecuador, but fishermen may possess and sell sharks they catch incidentally. The legal loophole has turned the nation into one of the world's largest exporters of shark fins. Exports of shark fins increased from 90 metric tons in 2020 to 321 metric tons in 2021. Revenues came to $9.7 million in 2021, according to the country's central bank.

"This is something that should not be a business," Cely said.

A major focus of the conversation centered on China's large distant-water fishing fleet, which has come under scrutiny for its predatory practices off South America's Atlantic and Pacific coasts. While the panelists agreed that they did not want to engage in China-bashing, they made clear that the fleet acts as a major IUU fishing offender, despite claims by the Chinese government that it is curbing such practices.

Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in Central American and Caribbean Waters

Milko Schvartzman, who investigates illegal fishing in Argentina and other countries, said the China-flagged vessels now start fishing squid off the south Atlantic sea shelf in early November, two months before the start of the season in Argentina.

"More vessels are starting earlier and increasing their fishing efforts," he said. "The impact is very worrying."

Schvartzman also fingered Uruguay's port of Montevideo for hosting vessels engaging in IUU fishing practices and other crimes, such as labor abuse. Part of the "Plundered Oceans" investigation that focused on South America revealed that the bodies of nearly 60 deceased fishing crewmembers were unloaded at the Montevideo port between 2013 and 2021.

"For many vessels, they have a nasty record and they keep working," he said.

Another report in the "Plundered Oceans" investigation looked at the Chinese fleet's use of the Panama flag for reefer vessels, refrigerated cargo ships that shuttle tons of catch to shore and return with supplies, allowing the fleet to stay out to sea for months or even years. Panama was issued a "yellow card," or warning, in 2019, by the European Union for being non-cooperative in the fight against IUU fishing.

Jiménez, of Costa Rica's MarViva Foundation, said that Panama still has "a lot to be done" to get its yellow card retracted.

Joshua Goodman, a Latin America correspondent for the Associated Press based in Miami, described his 21-day voyage with the conservation group the Sea Sheperd to get a close look at the Chinese fleet. Goodman spoke about how this led to an investigation of a Chinese state-subsidized company that has had its vessels accused of illegal fishing and labor abuse practices. He spotted some of the company's vessels at sea.

Goodman advised colleagues on the panel to look at regional fishing management organizations, which set rules and regulate fishing activities for member countries. The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), he reported, failed to adopt a proposal by Ecuador and the European Union to have observers on board all its member countries' ships by 2028. The groups often make major decisions, he said, behind closed doors. Latin American governments and the United States should take a more active role in these organizations.

The US, which is a major importer of seafood from China, wasn't let off the hook either.

"The US has a big role to play here," said Goodman, "to get traceability from the sea to the store shelf."

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Illegal Fishing in Latin America - Experts Consider Answers to Tough Questions at Event

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In poor coastal villages in Latin America and the Caribbean, fishers are entering the drug trade. The harvesting of sharks as bycatch in Ecuador and Costa Rica, countries known for conservation, is devastating threatened populations. And vessels in China's distant-water fleet are turning off their transponders to plunder South America's waters.

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He mainly writes about illegal fishing having to do with China
Opinion based

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IUU fishing threatens the rule of law, maritime sovereignty and freedom of the seas, and it has a greater impact on our life than we may realize.
By Lee Kok Leong, executive editor, Maritime Fairtrade

IUU fishing is the dishonest fishing practices, both on the high seas and in sovereign waters, that include illegal fishing in contravention of existing laws and regulations, unreported or misreported fishing, and unregulated fishing executed by vessels without nationality and/or conducted in areas where the flag state is not a party to international agreements or in areas where fishery management measures do not exist.

The opaque and criminal nature of IUU fishing makes it difficult to quantify the full economic impact. However, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), between 11 and 26 million metric tons of fish are caught illegally each year. And by some estimates, the annual economic loss because of the diversion of fish from the legitimate trade is US$26 billion to US$50 billion, and losses to countries' tax revenues are between US$2 billion and US$4 billion.

Global fish consumption has been on the rise for the past 60 years. Fishing is an important industry affecting the survival of people around the world. It is a US$401 billion global industry and 3.3 billion of the world's population depends on fisheries for jobs and food security. Seafood provides 20 percent of protein intake for nearly half of the global population.

And yet, IUU fishing is threatening all that as currently, 93 percent of the world's fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited, or significantly depleted, and global climate change is adversely affecting the existing stocks too.

IUU fishing is a threat to economic, national security

According to FAO, an estimated 20 percent of the world's total catch comes from IUU fishing and in some regions such as the coastal waters of developing countries, it can be up to 40 percent. IUU fishers, be they companies or countries, are robbing legal fishers of their livelihood. They avoid the costs associated with playing by the rules to access the lucrative but legal global fishery market, and costs associated with compliance to conservation and sustainable fishing practice.

IUU fishing puts legitimate fishing at a disadvantage when illegally caught seafood enter the marketplace. IUU fishing not only harms the legal fishers today, it also robs future generations of both fishers and consumers of their livelihood and food source respectively, by putting fish stocks at greater risk of extinction.

There are hidden costs associated with IUU fishing. It exacerbates poverty, is a theft of resources and adds billions of dollars to the costs borne by consumers and the global community. Jobs are lost and governments suffer from lower export earnings when trade documents are falsified to avoid duties and tariffs, or fish are shipped through various countries to avoid taxation, or illegal catches are transferred at sea to other vessels to facilitate their landing.

Besides the economic loss, the destruction of legitimate economies, and the risk to the livelihood of fishing and coastal communities, IUU fishing also erodes national and regional security, undermines maritime rules-based order, increases geopolitical tensions and jeopardizes food security. With a growing population and rising world hunger, fish has emerged as an important protein source for attaining food security. However, efforts to ensure sustainable fishing are being seriously compromised by IUU fishing.

IUU fishing opens the door to organized crimes

Significantly too, perpetrators of IUU fishing, who take advantage of corruption also, often have direct ties to organized crimes including human trafficking and drug smuggling, as they used similar trade routes, landing sites and vessels for trafficking arms, migrants, drugs, and other contraband.

The captains of IUU fishing vessels often hire uneducated migrants from impoverished regions, who are poorly paid or not paid at all, and subject them to human rights abuses and forced labor at sea. These modern-day slaves are deceived and coerced by brokers and recruitment agencies and forced to work onboard vessels under the threat of violence or by means of debt bondage.

Victims described illness, physical injury, mental and sexual abuse, and deaths of crewmates. They were forced to work for long hours every day, often at a stretch for months or even years at a time. The work was intense, hazardous and difficult and the environment dangerous. They were vulnerable and helpless onboard vessels in remote locations of the sea.

And it is for this reason that because the transgressions occurred where it had, it is hard for the authority to monitor and to enforce safety and labor regulations. In addition to the human suffering, forced labor gives IUU fishing vessels an unfair cost advantage over the legitimate fishing trade.

Human suffering goes hand in hand with IUU fishing

On October 26, an investigation by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) found that Indonesian crew onboard six Chinese vessels, part of the Liao Dong Yu fleet, which were fishing illegally off the coast of Somalia, were beaten, deprived of food and forced to work for nothing. The crew also reported being denied access to clean water, proper protective equipment and access to medical supplies and assistance. One Indonesian man died in an attempt to swim ashore to escape the atrocities.

After their contracts ended, the vessel operator refused to repatriate at least 13 Indonesian crew members, and they were forced to stay and work. In August, EJF, along with Destructive Fishing Watch and the International Justice Mission were finally able to repatriate the remaining 12 Indonesian crew.

According to the EJF investigation, the Chinese vessels fished in Somali waters without authorization, used prohibited gear including trawl nets, and fished in zones reserved for local Somali fishers. They also caught protected and endangered species like whale sharks, dolphins, turtles and a megamouth shark, an extremely elusive shark species with less than 100 specimens ever observed. It was even reported that the cook took the dolphins' guts and prepared them for the Chinese crew members' meals.

These illegal Chinese vessels exploited marine resources and caused irreversible damage to the marine ecosystem, and endangered the livelihood and food security of local fishing communities, because they know countries like Somali lack the law enforcement capacity to police their sovereign waters.

IUU fishing is a potent risk to Mother Nature

IUU fishing goes against conservation and sustainable management measures designed to protect the marine ecosystem and ensure that species are not overexploited or threatened. The illegal fishers use prohibited gear, indiscriminately catch all kinds of species in excessive quantities, including unauthorized ones, fish during off season, underreport catch quantities and operate in vulnerable and protected areas.

These harmful actions threaten the sustainability of marine resources and damage fragile habitats ranging from mangroves to coral reefs, for example, through the use of bottom-trawling. Also, thousands of marine species die as bycatch and overfishing often leaves the breeding stock so depleted that the fish cannot replenish themselves.

IUU fishing is linked to marine plastic litter, according to FAO, and this results in the death of many marine species. There is a connection between IUU fishing and fishing gear abandoned at sea. Vessels engage in IUU fishing dump their fishing gear when they fear getting caught and these abandoned fishing gear can trap and kill many species of fish, including endangered and vulnerable ones, from turtles to certain shark species.

China's problematic appetite for seafood

According to the U.S. NOAA 2021 Report to Congress on August 12, China is listed as engaging in IUU fishing. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime's IUU Fishing Index stated that China is the largest contributor to IUU fishing worldwide and poses a geopolitical threat to economic stability.

Distant Water Fishing (DWF) fleets, which conduct fishing activities on an industrial scale in foreign waters far from their home countries, have been closely associated with IUU fishing. China has the largest DWF fleet in the world and importantly, a report from the Overseas Development Institute released in June 2020 said at least 183 vessels in China's DWF fleet are suspected of involvement in IUU fishing.

Additionally, the People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia, estimated to include 3,000 vessels, actively carries out aggressive behavior against other countries' coast guards, and intimidate legitimate fishermen on the high seas and in sovereign waters to support the Chinese Communist Party's long term maritime strategic goals.

A shared future: In humanity's interest to fight IUU fishing

IUU fishing, which has replaced piracy as the leading global maritime security threat, is a serious issue affecting the future of humanity that warrants the attention of the global community and all consumers. Be that as it may, not all maritime nations and flag states have the capacity, political will, or moral conscience to police their sovereign waters and registered vessels.

This lack of law enforcement, weak management and disregard of IUU fishing create loopholes for exploitation. And if the loopholes are left unaddressed, these nations and flag states will become accomplices, unwittingly or otherwise, to IUU fishing and their inaction will gradually normalize the criminal behavior and erode rules-based order that foster peace, stability and prosperity.

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IUU fishing: Deadliest catch in the world - Maritime Fairtrade

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IUU fishing threatens the rule of law, maritime sovereignty and freedom of the seas, and it has a greater impact on our life than we may realize.

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The twitter handle @IUUFishingLatAm page is sourced by In Sight Crime and American University. It is used mainly as a way to spread information such as the conference recently hosted by the two organizations. It also posts reports, studies, and graphics to help its followers stay up to date on the issue. This source is providing mostly news.
This twitter page seems like one of the best places to look with regards to IUU fishing if using social media as a main source of information and news. It is a credible source with other web publications.

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Tweets by IUUFishingLatAm

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Claude Berube is a US Naval Academy teacher and took a cruise on the NGO Sea Shepard's ship Bridgette Bardot. He reports on his first-hand experience in the ocean near Africa where they exposed IUU fishing in the Atlantic.

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Claude Berube teaches at the United States Naval Academy where his courses have included Naval History, American Government, Intelligence & National Security, Terrorism, Emergent Naval Warfare, and Maritime Security Challenges. He has worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence, on Capitol Hill for two U.S. Senators, and as a defense contractor. He was a LEGIS fellow with The Brookings Institution and a maritime security studies fellow with The Heritage Foundation. He is the author or co-author of four books and more than fifty articles. An intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, he has served at ONI, in Europe, and with Expeditionary Strike Group Five in the Persian Gulf. He is currently writing his doctoral dissertation on Andrew Jackson's navy.

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Claude Berube teaches at the United States Naval Academy where his courses have included Naval History, American Government, Intelligence & National Security, Terrorism, Emergent Naval Warfare, and Maritime Security Challenges. He has worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence, on Capitol Hill for two U.S. Senators, and as a defense contractor.

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Blog: Exposing what happens on IUU Fishing Vessels

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Blog: Exposing what happens on IUU Fishing Vessels

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Nov 2021

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Photo Courtesy: U.S. Navy
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing violators are often engaged in global human trafficking trade and transnational organized crime. These crimes jeopardize international security on the high seas and are inherently hard to prosecute. After catch, the illegally sourced fish products make their way into the global market. As a result, unaware American consumers buy into this broken system, contributing to slavery at sea and transnational criminal activity.
Human Rights Violations
Fishing companies engaged in IUU fishing activity are primarily interested in profit maximization. As a result, IUU fishing vessels often employ migrant labor for unpaid or cheap wages and house workers in inadequate, unsanitary conditions. In some cases, workers are enslaved at sea for extended periods of time. In recent years, investigations by the media and environmental justice groups have exposed bad actors for heinous conditions and treatment of crewmembers on the high seas.

In October 2020, for example, an investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation discovered extensive human rights violations committed against Ghanian workers aboard Chinese-owned trawling vessels. Chinese vessel presence off the coast of West Africa is significant; one Chinese state enterprise, Dalian Mengxin Ocean Fisheries, operated 35 Meng Xin-owned vessels in this region, with at least 17 located in Ghana alone. On these vessels, Ghanian crew members were found to have been given unclean drinking water, denied food to maximize work productivity, physically assaulted by Chinese captains, and subjected to verbal threats. Ghanian crew members slept above deck under a tarp, with limited opportunities to wash or bathe. All of the men interviewed claimed that they had not signed written contracts with their employers. Many stated they were wholly unaware of the method or amount of their compensation and that deductions were made from their wages without prior notice from the company.

Similar injustices occur in the Thai fishing industry, where young men are sold into slavery and forced to fish without pay. These injustices were depicted in the 2018 Vulcan film ' Ghostfleet,' a documentary following Tun Lin, a Myanmar man kidnapped by human traffickers at fourteen years old and subjected to brutal working conditions at sea for the next eleven years. Tun Lin's true story of struggle in the fishing industry is a sad reality for so many Thai crew members. Although the U.S. Department of State has recognized improvements to address human rights abuses identified in the Thai fishing industry, the Thai Government has a long way to go to ensure humane labor practices in the fishing industry.

In February 2021, an investigation conducted by the Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL) and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) found that migrant workers onboard South Korea's distant-water fishing (DWF) fleet were forced to work over 18 hours a day. Many crew members reported that their captains confiscated their passports and cut their wages after signing their initial employment contracts. Of the forty vessels audited by this investigation, twenty-nine were authorized to export fish products into the EU and UK.
Organized Crime
Some IUU vessels commit other trafficking crimes in tandem with illegal fishing, including unlawful transport of drugs, arms, and people. In 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard interdicted a 70-foot fishing vessel off the northern coast of South America, transporting four tons of cocaine worth an estimated $125 million. A 2020 study found that drug trafficking on fishing vessels has tripled since 2012.

Fishing vessels provide the opportunity for criminals to use the legitimate operations of fisheries in coastal communities to exploit fishers and create shell companies that conceal illicit activity. Fishers suffering from low wages and depleted fish yields are often coerced into the IUU fishing industry's wide net of organized criminal activity. These illegal activities include tax crimes, money laundering, corruption, document fraud, and trafficking in persons, drugs, and arms. Large-scale IUU fishing operations have constructed vast criminal networks to launder profits and traffic fish products to buyers and markets.

The 2020 Interpol report 'Fighting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing' details the interdiction of one of the world's most wanted pirate fishing vessels. The ship operated under the names " Andrey Dolgov," " STS-50," and " Sea Breez 1 " interchangeably to evade authorities. This vessel is suspected of having stolen a total of $50 million worth of fish from the ocean in ten years. This vessel was also engaged in several transnational fisheries-related crimes, including document fraud, manipulation of shipborne equipment, and illegal open-sea transshipments. Further investigation of the ship revealed that most of the crew were victims of labor exploitation. Evaluation of financial documents and onboard intelligence systems divulged the vessel's link to Russian organized crime activity.
U.S. Seafood Supply Chain Fails Consumers
Unfortunately, the opportunities to evade authorities and mislabel fish products make discerning illegally sourced fish and punishing bad actors a constant challenge. As a result, American consumers unknowingly buy and consume seafood products from a supply chain embedded in criminal activity, unfair labor, and human rights abuses. In 2019, the U.S. imported $2.4 billion worth of IUU seafood, a figure representing 11% of total U.S. seafood imports. Given that a large portion of U.S. seafood is imported internationally, adequate tracing of the foreign seafood supply chain is essential to ensure fish are sourced ethically and labeled accurately.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) implements the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), which requires reporting and recordkeeping disclosures for foreign vessels offloading catch at U.S. ports of entry. These required disclosures include: the name and flag designation of the fishing vessel(s); evidence of authorization to fish (such as a license number or permit); the types of fishing gear used; the species of fish caught; the point of first landing (where the vessel first harbored post-catch); and the name of entities to which the catch was landed or delivered. This process attempts to verify the sourcing and handling of fish products throughout every stage of the supply chain before allowing entry into U.S. commerce.

However, recent compliance data suggests that SIMP does not sufficiently monitor products for IUU fishing. According to a recent SIMP progress report, 42.7% of vessels audited in 2020 were noncompliant. Out of the four main audit non-compliance categories, the most common violation was a lack of verifiable traceability information from catch to port. In other words, the vessels failed to provide sufficient documentation of the seafood's handling from the moment of catch to its point of entry, casting doubt on whether the seafood was ethically sourced. Additionally, SIMP only monitors for thirteen specified fish species, allowing IUU fishing vessels to catch and import other fish species without risk of detection. Due to a lack of agency resources and a high volume of seafood imports, SIMP cannot prevent IUU fish products from entering U.S. commerce as currently implemented.

The Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 3075), which was introduced in May 2021 by U.S. Congressmen Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Garret Graves (R-LA), seeks to expand SIMP to cover all seafood products. This bill would also require foreign importers to report additional data such as the catch location and electronic chain of custody reports. These electronic reports would need to be submitted and verified by authorities at all major transfer points in the supply chain. The expansion of SIMP data collection and species monitoring is an encouraging step toward seafood transparency. U.S. maritime agencies must conduct comprehensive oversight of foreign imported fish products to ensure American citizens have no hand in furthering crimes on the high seas.

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Human Rights Abuses & Organized Crime on IUU Fishing Vessels

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Photo Courtesy: U.S. NavyIllegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing violators are often engaged in global human trafficking trade and transnational organized crime. These crimes jeopardize international security on the high seas and are inherently hard to prosecute. After catch, the illegally sourced fish products make their way into the global market.

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5 Ways IUU Fishing Threatens National Security

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U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Bryan JacksonAs of 2020, the U.S. Coast Guard declared Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing as the leading maritime security threat due to the expected deterioration of fragile coastal States and increased tension among foreign-fishing Nations, which, if left unchecked, would threaten geopolitical stability around the world.

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The US is looking for illegal fishing off Galapagos Islands

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A B-1B Lancer aircraft assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 927th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill AFB, Florida, over the Caribbean Sea, Sept. 7, 2022. The air operations between 12th Air Force and Air Mobility Command were part of a Partner Interoperability Training exercise with Panama and Ecuador to grow capacity, enhance the ability to respond to illegal fishing practices and maintain shared interest in regional security. Multilateral engagements such as this one ensures maximum resource efficiency and enable the consistent training between U.S. Southern Command, component command and partner nations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Hastings).

U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers flying from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas kept watch for signs of illegal fishing during recent sorties over the eastern end of the Pacific off the coast of Ecuador and around that country's Galapagos Islands. This would seem to be an unusual mission for the B-1Bs, which is a highly capable long-range strike platform, but it is actually not the first time the bombers have supported international law enforcement activities as a way to practice skill sets in a real-world environment.

The recent B-1B flights also highlight the Air Force's current interest in expanding the B-1B's maritime role, with a particular eye toward anti-ship missions during future high-end conflicts, especially in the Pacific. In addition, the U.S. military has become increasingly interested in ways to help challenge malign Chinese activities short of conflict, including with regard to things like illegal fishing, in the broader Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

At least two B-1Bs from the Dyess-based 7th Bomb Wing took part in this mission, which took place on September 7. The Air Force described the sorties as countering "illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing" in the course of a broader Continental United States (CONUS) Bomber Task Force (BTF) operation conducted in cooperation with the governments of Ecuador and Panama. KC-135 aerial refueling tankers flying from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida supported the B-1Bs. It's unclear if any action was taken with regard to suspected illegal fish boats from information provided by the bomber crews.

"This kind of regional military engagement strengthens our partnership with Ecuador and Panama and enhances interoperability and improves our collective readiness for a range of potential future operations - from disaster relief to humanitarian assistance to security operations," according to a statement from U.S. Southern Command. "When our forces train alongside one another we improve our ability to work together in times of crisis."

"There are certain things that only Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen can do, and this is one of them," Air Force Col. John McClung, head of the 7th Bomb Wing's 7th Operations Group, also said regarding the eastern Pacific sorties. "Based on the Airmen we have in this room, we can fly this mission and then turn around and regenerate in a matter of hours - we make it look easy, but it's tough work."

However, this is not the first time that the Air Force has also demonstrated the B-1B's ability to also act as an impromptu long-range surveillance platform, including in support of non-combat missions, thanks to its AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP).

This role is referred to as non-traditional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or NTISR. Sniper has electro-optical and infrared full-motion video cameras as well as datalink capabilities and can be used to help identify objects of interest down below, track moving targets, and generate GPS coordinates for specific points on the surface - all capabilities that fit well with the NTISR mission.

B-1Bs, as well as Air Force B-52s, have flown other kinds of NTISR missions in the past, notably over the Caribbean searching for possible drug-smuggling boats in support of regional counter-narcotics efforts. You can read more about those operations in this past War Zone piece.

In addition to providing NTISR support, B-1B flights in support of things like counter-narcotics or counter-illegal fishing operations offer valuable real-world opportunities to practice various skill sets, potentially involving the identification and tracking of actual unpredictable targets. Experience gained on these sorties could be applicable, at least in some ways, in future combat sorties, especially in maritime environments.

"We are in competition in our own hemisphere," Air Force Col. Joseph Kramer, the 7th Bomb Wing's commander, said in a statement about the recent eastern Pacific sorties. "These bomber missions demonstrate our ability to respond to threats in today's complex, dynamic and volatile global security environment anytime, anywhere."

The Galapagos, one of the focal points of the recent B-1B sorties, has been a particular flashpoint for these issues. The islands are a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site and biosphere reserve and the Ecuadorean government has declared a 27,000-square-mile marine reserve around them, a protected maritime area that is second only in size to the one surrounding the Great Barrier Reef.

However, a 2020 report from marine conservation group Oceana said that Chinese fishing boat fleets had accounted for virtually all of the observed fishing near the Galapagos between July 2019 and August 2020, and had carried out 73,000 total hours of fishing in just one month within that period. Similar activity has been observed around these islands since then, as can be seen in the video below.

In June, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the first ever National Security memo specifically focused on illegal fishing, which directed the Department of Defense and other federal agencies to step up cooperation and coordination to help better counter these activities. The same month, the members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue - the United States, Australia, India, and Japan - announced plans to use space-based surveillance to help monitor illegal fishing.

So, countering illegal fishing is something that the U.S. military, as well as other elements of the U.S. government, may increasingly find itself involved in, directly and indirectly, as part of larger strategies to counter China. In fact, a joint U.S. Navy-Marine Corps-Coast Guard naval strategy unveiled in 2020 highlighted a need to work harder to respond to day-to-day maritime challenges from the Chinese, and to a lesser extent, the Russians, including more monitoring of malign activities short of war.

"Together with international and whole-of-government efforts, the Naval Service will detect and document our rivals' actions that violate international law, steal resources, and infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations. We will provide evidence of malign activities to U.S. and international officials to expose this behavior and increase the reputational costs for aggressors," an official white paper on the strategy explained. "Forward naval forces, leveraging our complementary law-enforcement authorities and military capabilities, will stand ready to disrupt malign activities through assertive operations. Our expanded efforts will refute the false narratives of our rivals and demonstrate the United States' commitment to protecting the rules-based order."

That same document criticized the Chinese government specifically for, among other things, its "state-subsidized distant-water fishing fleet [that] steals vital resources from nations unable to defend their own exclusive economic zones."

In terms of U.S. military assets, U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes would be far better suited to this mission. Unmanned aircraft designed to conduct persistent broad-area intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, such as the Navy's MQ-4C Tritons or Q-9 Reaper series, would be another option. Persistent maritime surveillance is one mission envisioned for future very-high-flying drones with extremely high endurance like the Airbus Zephyr S, an example of which recently crashed in Arizona after more than two months aloft as part of a U.S. Army test.

Smaller commercial-derived platforms, especially business jet and turboprop aircraft, configured for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, present another far more economical platform. This is something The War Zone has noted in the past when discussing using bombers in the NTISR role in support of counter-narcotics operations. The U.S. military already employs contractor-operated ISR aircraft for counter-drug missions.

There is still the possibility that B-1Bs could fly more sporadic counter-illegal fishing sorites as a way to help hone skills that could be valuable in future maritime combat operations, especially in the Pacific, while also providing useful real-world support to allies and partners.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com

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B-1B Bombers Are Hunting Illegal Fishing Boats Off South America

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U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers flying from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas kept watch for signs of illegal fishing during recent sorties over the eastern end of the Pacific off the coast of Ecuador and around that country's Galapagos Islands.

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Pacific and South China Sea are also being impacted by China's illegal fishing 

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Pacific and South China Sea are also being impacted by China's illegal fishing 

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One year old (June 2021)

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Since long before the steel-hulled fishing boats from foreign countries arrived in the South Pacific its people have had their own systems for sharing the ocean's catches.

In the New Zealand colony of Tokelau, in the middle of the region, the 1,400 people living on its three atolls practise a system called inati, which ensures every household gets fish.

Several times a month all atoll men are given time to prepare and bait lines and the "grey hairs" - as leaders are called - decide on the targeted fish, including tuna and trevally, using traditional knowledge of the best grounds, along with tides and the phases of the moon. They set off late at night and return 12 hours later, well after the sun has risen. Their catch is then sorted into different species and sizes. Bigger families get bigger shares.

Across the Pacific, traditional fishing practices like this take place alongside huge commercial fishing operations, where the catches are not always shared so fairly, nor disclosed so transparently.

Men sort their catch in Tokelau - bigger families get bigger shares. Photograph: Elena Pasilio

The Pacific region exported 530,000 metric tonnes of seafood products in 2019, netting US$1.2bn. The biggest exporters were Papua New Guinea ($470m), Fiji ($182m), the Federated States of Micronesia ($130m), Vanuatu ($108m) and Solomon Islands ($101m). The biggest importers of Pacific fish in 2019 were Thailand, with seafood imports from the Pacific worth $300m, the Philippines ($195m), Japan ($130m), China ($100m) and the US ($100m).

In some ways the fishing industry is a success story for the Pacific region. In a landmark moment of regional cooperation in 1982, eight countries signed the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, which allowed the tiny countries to collectively negotiate the access to their waters by foreign fishing vessels, a move that has generated an additional $500m a year in revenue.

But the Pacific - the world's most fertile fishing ground, which supplies well over half of the world's tuna - also falls victim to illegal fishing, with up to one in every five wild-caught fish illegally caught.

The small Pacific countries in whose waters these illegal fishing operations take place lose out on the profit, suffer depletion of stocks and, without the capacity to fully police their waters, are often also penalised by fishing importers for not being able to guarantee the sustainable provenance of the catch.

How the fishing works

The 17 nations and territories of the region directly control their own territorial waters. Fishing outside the territorial waters, in the nations' larger exclusive economic zones (EEZ), is monitored and coordinated by the intergovernmental Forum Fisheries Agency. Pacific EEZs produce around US$26bn worth of tuna for consumers but the islands earn only about 10% of that value. Only a handful of Pacific countries process any of the catches in their waters - this usually takes place in Bangkok and other Asian cities. Pacific countries seldom even crew fishing boats and make money only on the licensing.

The high seas beyond the EEZs, claimed by no one, come under the multinational Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

In 2019, WCPFC's total tuna catch was a record-setting 2,961,059 tonnes, 81% of the total Pacific Ocean tuna catch and 55% of the global tuna catch. It is dominated by boats from deep-water fishing nations including China, Japan, South Korea and the US.

Industrial-scale fishing began in the South Pacific after the second world war. It was dominated by the US and Japan but in the past two decades China has dispatched wave after wave of fishing boats, mainly longliners and purse seiners.

Longliners set out fishing lines up to 100km in length, each with up to 3,000 hooks. They use electronics to find a school of fish and then, using boat speed, haul the line through it.

Fish are gutted in Tokelau for inati, which ensures every household gets a share. Photograph: Elena Pasilio

Careful skippers avoid killing sharks, billfish such as marlin and swordfish, sea turtles and seabirds in the process. Others do not care. Few longlining tuna boats in the Pacific have independent observers on board; as they are small and often dangerous, few want to sail on them.

Purse seiners are bigger and more comfortable - attracting observers - and use onboard helicopters and floating aggregation devices to attract tuna. A seiner will use boats to encircle an entire school with nets (the "purse") which is then closed, capturing all the fish - and often dolphins and sharks.

China moves in

Having grossly overfished its own regional waters, notably the China seas, China's fleets are now taking huge quantities of tuna from the world's most fertile fishing ground. Since 2012 the Chinese Pacific fishing fleet has grown by more than 500%.

A survey of boats operating in the Pacific in 2016 found that Chinese-flagged vessels far outstripped those of any other country. China had 290 industrial vessels licensed to operate in the region at the time, more than a quarter of the total, and more than the 240 from all the Pacific nations combined.

Their longline fleets, targeting albacore and yellow fin, dominate EEZs in places such as Vanuatu and the high seas. Silky and whitetip sharks are a favourite "bycatch", their fins kept and the rest dumped.

In the past 10 years China and Hong Kong have sought to close down the shark fin trade, partly by banning the consumption of shark fin soup at government functions, and through public efforts to publicly stigmatise it. The continuing decline in oceanic shark numbers points to limited success so far.

According to WCPFC records, China has more than 600 vessels out of a total of 1,300 foreign-operated ships licensed to fish in the area.

Earlier this year China said it had banned its fleets from catching squid in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for three months to help populations recover. Global Times, a state-run newspaper, reported that the move highlighted "China's image as a responsible fishing power and is a milestone for China's participation in international maritime management".

Miren Gutierrez, a research associate at the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI), co-wrote a study on Chinese deep-water fishing.

A Chinese fishing boat in the Pacific. Photograph: Reuters

"Having depleted fish stocks in domestic waters and encouraged by subsidies, China's distant-water fishing fleets have been travelling farther and farther afield, and its companies have been building more and more vessels to meet the rising demand for seafood," she said.

Various estimates of the Chinese fleet range between 1,600 and 3,400 vessels but the ODI study says this figure is likely to be five to eight times higher.

The authors identified 12,490 vessels observed outside internationally recognised Chinese waters between 2017 and 2018.

"China is a fisheries superpower," the study says. "It has the largest fishing fleet and the largest DWF [distant water fishing] fleet in the world."

Chinese vessels have been extensively documented engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. In January the Washington-based Brookings Institute published a study, quoting industry, regulatory and media outlets, that said: "Chinese fishing practices present a truly unique and dire IUU threat."

Written by the Brookings fellow Michael Sinclair, a former US Coast Guard captain, it said China used the world's largest fishing fleet to "devastating effect" to meet its population's huge demand for protein.

"When working together in fleets, these vessels are rapacious,"Sinclair wrote.

When working together in fleets, these vessels are rapacious

Michael Sinclair

Early last year, China took action when Ecuador alleged that at least 150 Chinese fish vessels had turned off tracking systems so they could operate near the Galapagos Islands. In response in April last year, China's Bureau of Fisheries announced it would begin blacklisting vessels and captains found to have engaged in IUU fishing. Beijing has banned a number of vessels with its flag for IUU violations in the Pacific, but industry observers question the effectiveness of this, especially because Chinese vessels continue to go blind, switch off their tracking, while in the Pacific.

In the Pacific, much of the suspected IUU is in the unreported column, a result made up of a combination of illegal transshipping on the high seas - when catches are transferred between vessels - and corrupt or careless monitoring in Pacific ports.

While China is the most cited IUU fisher, other nations, notably South Korea and Vanuatu, are also mentioned and IUU fishing remains a continuing problem even with small Pacific states as offenders.

Various studies have tried to give a value to IUU catches. A 2019 report by the World Resources Institute estimated that up to 7.2m tonnes of IUU fish valued at between US$4.3bn to US$8.3bn disappeared annually.

The loss of so much fish to IUU fishing has long been a drain on the economies of small states without any other exports, as well as damaging to the global environment. The inability of Pacific nations to cope with IUU fishing has drawn the ire of rich importers, seeking certification of the legality of fish catches.

Frozen tuna in the hold of a Chinese vessel. Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

The EU gave Vanuatu a warning in 2012 over the role of IUU vessels carrying its flag. Facing the prospect of EU bans on its exports, Vanuatu reformed its regulations and was formally advised in 2016 that the warning had been lifted.

But the country then found itself in trouble with the US over a fleet of apparently Taiwanese-owned vessels flying Vanuatu's flag, including a ship called Tunago 61.

In 2016, six of Tunago 61's Indonesian crew murdered the ship's captain while fishing east of Pitcairn Island. They kept the body in the freezer and took it to Suva, Fiji, where they confessed to the crime. They said they had been working for 16 months without pay and without leaving the ship.

Because the ship was flying under Vanuatu's flag, Fiji flew the men to Vanuatu, a country they had never been to, where they were convicted and jailed for 18 years. They still sit in cells there.

Transform Aqorau, Solomon Islands' ambassador to the US, who was responsible for driving through the Parties to the Nauru agreement, has argued that IUU fishing poses one of the biggest threats to fisheries management for developing countries. Flags of convenience and shell company operations in tax havens hide what is happening.

"Most developing countries do not have the capacity to verify information provided by these vessels," Aqorau said.

As a consequence there was an often substantial loss of income for poorer Pacific countries from IUU fishing, especially because it often involved traditional fishing grounds. "The loss to developing countries is, therefore, not only expressed in economic terms by the lower licence fees paid, but also in resource terms, by the greater accessibility to the resource."

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Why the world's most fertile fishing ground is facing a 'unique and dire' threat

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Since long before the steel-hulled fishing boats from foreign countries arrived in the South Pacific its people have had their own systems for sharing the ocean's catches. In the New Zealand colony of Tokelau, in the middle of the region, the 1,400 people living on its three atolls practise a system called inati, which ensures every household gets fish.

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Flags of Convenience perpetuate and enable IUU fishing

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Flags of Convenience perpetuate and enable IUU fishing

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This graphic and post highlight how perpetuating a flag of convenience used by China in their transshipment process can easily lead to tax evasion and now can perpetuate and aid in IUU fishing. This source is publishing the facts and is from the InSight Crime overall page.
This post is something I did not realize would be the case, but after reading it, the idea seems obvious. That is the point with the infographic posts, to help users better understand the problem so they can be more invested in the solution.

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Flags of convenience allow ship owners to register their ships in another country. Originally, FOCs were conceived to lower tax burdens. But flags of convenience increasingly facilitate IUU fishing practices, such as transshipment and the laundering of catch.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.author.name
IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Flags of convenience allow ship owners to register their ships in another country. Originally, FOCs were conceived to lower tax burdens. But flags of convenience increasingly facilitate IUU fishing practices, such as transshipment and the laundering of catch. https://t.co/MXK74P7V4C

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
Panama lends its flag to some of the most destructive fishing ships in the world. 

In 2020, for example, when the Ecuadorian Navy discovered a Chinese fishing fleet near the Galapagos Islands, its vessels were not all flagged to China. Many of them flew the Panamanian flag.

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IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

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IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Flags of convenience allow ship owners to register their ships in another country. Originally, FOCs were conceived to lower tax burdens. But flags of convenience increasingly facilitate IUU fishing practices, such as transshipment and the laundering of catch. pic.twitter.com/MXK74P7V4C
— IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean (@IUUFishingLatAm) August 1, 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Flags of convenience allow ship owners to register their ships in another country. Originally, FOCs were conceived to lower tax burdens. But flags of convenience increasingly facilitate IUU fishing practices, such as transshipment and the laundering of catch. https://t.co/MXK74P7V4C

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.users[].name
IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].text
Panama lends its flag to some of the most destructive fishing ships in the world. 

In 2020, for example, when the Ecuadorian Navy discovered a Chinese fishing fleet near the Galapagos Islands, its vessels were not all flagged to China. Many of them flew the Panamanian flag.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Flags of convenience allow ship owners to register their ships in another country. Originally, FOCs were conceived to lower tax burdens. But flags of convenience increasingly facilitate IUU fishing practices, such as transshipment and the laundering of catch. https://t.co/MXK74P7V4C

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Flags of convenience allow ship owners to register their ships in another country. Originally, FOCs were conceived to lower tax burdens. But flags of convenience increasingly facilitate IUU fishing practices, such as transshipment and the laundering of catch.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.author.name
IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
Panama lends its flag to some of the most destructive fishing ships in the world. 

In 2020, for example, when the Ecuadorian Navy discovered a Chinese fishing fleet near the Galapagos Islands, its vessels were not all flagged to China. Many of them flew the Panamanian flag.

# data[].attributes.body
This post is in a thread regarding the American University study on IUU fishing in nine Central and South American countries. The infographic demonstrates the human and economic impacts that IUU Fishing has on people. This is a news source and is meant to compile information for the reader's ease of understanding.
This infographic helps me be better invested in IUU Fishing and is a good tool for quick spread of information because instead of reading a full article, the reader can quickly see the six major crimes and four other negative impacts that result from IUU fishing. This type of information presentation is critical in this time because most people are more likely to try to understand a graphic than read an article.

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Moreover, the article also analyzes the scope of crimes associated with IUU fishing and the legislative sources of the weak government response in Latin America and the Caribbean.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.author.name
IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
Moreover, the article also analyzes the scope of crimes associated with IUU fishing and the legislative sources of the weak government response in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://t.co/gZ0X9f2CQB

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
The report describes the adverse consequences of IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean, including its direct and indirect economic costs, environmental impacts, contributions to food insecurity, and potential conflict. https://t.co/FY9hYjfuVd

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IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

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IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Moreover, the article also analyzes the scope of crimes associated with IUU fishing and the legislative sources of the weak government response in Latin America and the Caribbean. pic.twitter.com/gZ0X9f2CQB
— IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean (@IUUFishingLatAm) September 15, 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Moreover, the article also analyzes the scope of crimes associated with IUU fishing and the legislative sources of the weak government response in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://t.co/gZ0X9f2CQB

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.users[].name
IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].text
The report describes the adverse consequences of IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean, including its direct and indirect economic costs, environmental impacts, contributions to food insecurity, and potential conflict. https://t.co/FY9hYjfuVd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Moreover, the article also analyzes the scope of crimes associated with IUU fishing and the legislative sources of the weak government response in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://t.co/gZ0X9f2CQB

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Moreover, the article also analyzes the scope of crimes associated with IUU fishing and the legislative sources of the weak government response in Latin America and the Caribbean.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.author.name
IUU Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.referenced_tweets[].text
The report describes the adverse consequences of IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean, including its direct and indirect economic costs, environmental impacts, contributions to food insecurity, and potential conflict. https://t.co/FY9hYjfuVd

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US Secretary of State Speaking against IUU Fishing 

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US Secretary of State Speaking against IUU Fishing 

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The United States Secretary of State visited Peru in early October 2022 and denounces illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing after visiting a fish market and talking to the fishmongers. The video shows the Secretary interacting with locals before showing a snip of his speech at the marina. Of note, the source is Sarjah24 News based in UAE despite the video being taken in Peru.
Using video as a news reporting outlet can be critical to getting a point across. This video shows the Secretary in action and can help demonstrate how the US is showing support to South American countries.

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Blinken denounces illegal fishing in Peru, the land of ceviche

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This post is more opinion-based as it is coming from a specific person rather than an organization. Getting information from people, even if they are spokespersons for organizations, is critical to understanding specifically what people think of the issue in addition to the heavily researched opinions and ideas from organizations.

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Most read article at @FISbySeafoodM 
This is an interview I gave to South American media on IUU fishing (I and/or UU):
https://t.co/SKjH8QBAOO
#IUU #fishing #Ocean #environment #China #HumanRights

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Seafood Media Group - Worldnews - M.Schvartzman: `Countries look the other way due to pressure from China or ideological affinity'

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.entities.urls[].description
- September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 All Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antarctica Argentina Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Belize Bolivia Brazil Brunei Darussalam

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
Most read article at @FISbySeafoodM 
This is an interview I gave to South American media on IUU fishing (I and/or UU):
https://t.co/SKjH8QBAOO
#IUU #fishing #Ocean #environment #China #HumanRights https://t.co/QT6LEoblPY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Most read article at @FISbySeafoodM
This is an interview I gave to South American media on IUU fishing (I and/or UU):https://t.co/SKjH8QBAOO#IUU #fishing #Ocean #environment #China #HumanRights pic.twitter.com/QT6LEoblPY
— Milko Schvartzman (@milkorockmar) September 19, 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Most read article at @FISbySeafoodM 
This is an interview I gave to South American media on IUU fishing (I and/or UU):
https://t.co/SKjH8QBAOO
#IUU #fishing #Ocean #environment #China #HumanRights https://t.co/QT6LEoblPY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.entities.urls[].title
Seafood Media Group - Worldnews - M.Schvartzman: `Countries look the other way due to pressure from China or ideological affinity'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.entities.urls[].description
- September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 All Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antarctica Argentina Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Belize Bolivia Brazil Brunei Darussalam

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Most read article at @FISbySeafoodM 
This is an interview I gave to South American media on IUU fishing (I and/or UU):
https://t.co/SKjH8QBAOO
#IUU #fishing #Ocean #environment #China #HumanRights https://t.co/QT6LEoblPY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Most read article at @FISbySeafoodM 
This is an interview I gave to South American media on IUU fishing (I and/or UU):
https://t.co/SKjH8QBAOO
#IUU #fishing #Ocean #environment #China #HumanRights

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.entities.urls[].title
Seafood Media Group - Worldnews - M.Schvartzman: `Countries look the other way due to pressure from China or ideological affinity'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.entities.urls[].description
- September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 All Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antarctica Argentina Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Belize Bolivia Brazil Brunei Darussalam

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U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing

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The Maritime SAFE Act requires the establishment of an Interagency Working Group to strengthen maritime security and combat IUU fishing.

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IUU Vessel Tracker

IUU Vessel Tracker* allows users to track vessels currently included on the regional fishery management organizations' (RFMOs) illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessel lists.** IUU Vessel Tracker shows ships' names, fishing activity,*** and locations in near real time together with exclusive economic zones (EEZs)**** and marine protected areas..

IUU Vessel Tracker was created using automatic identification system (AIS) data from Global Fishing Watch †, an independent nonprofit founded by Oceana in partnership with Google and SkyTruth.

Only vessels currently broadcasting their AIS devices are visible on IUU Vessel Tracker. As of June 2021, there are 168 vessels listed on RFMO's IUU vessel lists.

Transparency of fishing is a critical tool to help end IUU fishing.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO USE THIS MAP
*IUU Vessel Tracker uses vessel information in the Global Fishing Watch database. This information is transmitted from a vessel's automatic identification system (AIS) device, which is collected via satellites and terrestrial receivers. Faulty AIS devices, user error, intentional manipulation, crowded areas, poor satellite reception, and transmission flaws are factors that contribute to noise and errors in AIS data, and sometimes those inaccuracies can be reflected in the location of a vessel. Vessel operators can accidentally or purposefully enter false information into their ship's AIS, thus concealing their identity or location. In crowded areas, such as ports, the massive number of radio transmissions can crowd the bandwidth of satellite and terrestrial receivers, leading to inaccuracies as well. For these reasons, use IUU Vessel Tracker information at your own risk.

Background

IUU fishing is one of the greatest threats to our oceans. The International Trade Commission found the United States imported $2.4 billion worth of seafood derived from IUU fishing in 2019. IUU fishing can include fishing without authorization, ignoring catch limits, operating in closed areas, and fishing with prohibited gear or for prohibited fish or wildlife. These illicit activities are often destructive to essential habitat, severely deplete fish populations, and threaten global food security. These actions not only contribute to overfishing, but also give illegal fishermen an unfair advantage over those that play by the rules. It undermines the responsible management of commercial fishing and ocean conservation. It exploits the natural resources of coastal nations, reduces economic opportunity, and threatens food security. Forced labor and human rights abuses are also commonly associated with IUU fishing. IUU fishing is a low-risk, high-reward activity, especially on the high seas where a fragmented legal framework and lack of effective enforcement allows it to thrive.

If broadly adopted and required, existing, easy-to-implement technologies - such as automatic identification system (AIS) - would improve the transparency of commercial fishing. An AIS is a device that automatically broadcasts vessel identity and location information (e.g., coordinates, speed and direction) as frequently as once every few seconds. Many large vessels, including tankers, shipping vessels and industrial fishing boats, rely on AIS data to safely navigate the ocean. The availability of AIS data allows governments, non-governmental organizations, researchers, and the public to monitor the AIS data for irregularities, trends, and illegal behavior. Requiring more transparency in fishing can help remove the veil of secrecy on the high seas.

Regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) are comprised of member countries that together manage some fisheries on the high seas. RFMOs can set catch limits, authorize vessels to fish, and officially sanction vessels for IUU fishing activities. If a vessel violates the rules of an RFMO, the vessel can be placed on its "IUU Vessel List," and the repercussions for being "listed" depend on the RFMO. Usually, member countries cannot provide any assistance or services to that listed vessel, such as port access or refueling. Vessels can sometimes be "cross-listed" under different RFMOs, which means a vessel can be placed on one RFMO's IUU vessel list due to IUU activities in another RFMO. RFMOs perform annual compliance reviews of their IUU vessel lists, but unless effective action is taken in response to the IUU fishing activities that led to the listing or ownership changes, vessels may remain listed indefinitely.

To read the press release, click here.

To read the supporting fact sheet, click here.

To read the methodology of how this map was developed, click here.

To learn more about Oceana's campaign to stop illegal fishing and increase transparency at sea, please click here.

To take action against illegal fishing, click here.

**IUU Vessel Tracker uses data from Trygg Mat Tracking's Combined IUU Vessel List ( www.iuu-vessels.org), which provides the best available, up-to-date information on all fishing vessels that appear on the IUU vessels lists. This source is compiled from RFMO IUU lists, online vessel databases, national fisheries authorities, and Interpol. Oceana takes steps, such as cross-referencing RFMO lists, to ensure designations are as accurate as possible. Because of the timing of listing and delisting decisions by RFMOs, vessels that have been cross-listed may remain listed on the cross-listing RFMO despite being delisted from the original listing RFMO. For these reasons, any and all information about IUU-listed vessels should be considered reflective of current RFMO listings and must be used at your own risk.

***Any and all references to "fishing" should be understood in the context of Global Fishing Watch's fishing detection algorithm, which is a best effort to determine "apparent fishing effort" based on vessel speed and direction data from the automatic identification system (AIS) collected via satellites and terrestrial receivers. As AIS data varies in completeness, accuracy, and quality, it is possible that some fishing effort is not identified and conversely, that some fishing effort identified is not fishing. For these reasons, Global Fishing Watch qualifies all designations of vessel fishing effort, including synonyms of the term "fishing effort," such as "fishing" or "fishing activity," as "apparent," rather than certain. Any and all Global Fishing Watch information about "apparent fishing effort" should be considered an estimate and must be used at your own risk. Global Fishing Watch is taking steps to make sure fishing effort designations are as accurate as possible.

****The EEZ boundaries on the IUU Vessel Tracker map were downloaded from MarineRegions.org: Flanders Marine Institute (2019). Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM), version 11. Available online at https://www.marineregions.org/, https://doi.org/10.14284/386

†Global Fishing Watch, a provider of open data for use in this project, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea. The views and opinions expressed in this project are those of the authors, which are not connected with or sponsored, endorsed or granted official status by Global Fishing Watch. By creating and publicly sharing map visualizations, data and analysis tools, Global Fishing Watch aims to enable scientific research and transform the way our ocean is managed.

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IUU Vessel Tracker* allows users to track vessels currently included on the regional fishery management organizations' (RFMOs) illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessel lists.** IUU Vessel Tracker shows ships' names, fishing activity,*** and locations in near real time together with exclusive economic zones (EEZs)**** and marine protected areas..

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OpEd - The World is engaging in unsustainable fishing practices

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OpEd - The World is engaging in unsustainable fishing practices

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New York Times

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At UN Ocean Conference, the UK, Canada and the USA launched the IUU Fishing Action Alliance (IUU-AA)

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Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities are putting fish stocks and marine ecosystems in peril, and IUU fishing violators are often guilty of egregious human rights violations. As leaders in the seafood sector, we are determined to act collaboratively with our supply chain partners and with governments to combat this scourge.

Today at the UN Ocean Conference, the UK, Canada and the USA launched the IUU Fishing Action Alliance (IUU-AA). The premise of the IUU-AA is broadly situated around three areas:

Implementing and building support for key international agreements, arrangements, and frameworks for combating IUU fishing, including the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures.

Encouraging support for technology and capacity building that strengthens fisheries MCS, particularly in developing countries.

Promoting transparency.

The IUU-AA will be underpinned by a pledge that is signed by States who are committed to tackling IUU fishing and States affected by IUU fishing activity.

The CTA and ILO188 are key priorities within the GTA's 5-year strategic plan. Our Partners' request their supply chains implement standards that align with the measures outlined in both the Agreement and in ILO188. Collaboratively, our partners are calling for tuna supplying countries to make safety at sea a priority by taking the steps necessary to ratify and fulfil the requirements set out by the CTA, and ensure decent conditions of work on board fishing vessels by ratifying and implementing ILO188.

We also want to ensure that the seafood we buy and sell is sourced from responsible producers that have not engaged in IUU activities. We fully support the ambition of the IUU Fishing Action Alliance (IUU-AA) pledge to assure that robust controls are being applied in the ports where our seafood is landed or transhipped through the implementation of port state measures (PSM), that are aligned with the requirements of the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), to ensure that illegally caught fish cannot enter the market.

We believe that if governments and the seafood supply chain act together, those engaged in IUU fishing activities will have nowhere to land or sell their illicit catch.

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Global Tuna Alliance welcomes the launch of the new IUU Fishing Action Alliance. - Global Tuna Alliance

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Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities are putting fish stocks and marine ecosystems in peril, and IUU fishing violators are often guilty of egregious human rights violations. As leaders in the seafood sector, we are determined to act collaboratively with our supply chain partners and with governments to combat this scourge.

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December 2021
NGO advocating and spreading facts to combat the issue

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ILLEGAL, UNREPORTED, AND UNREGULATED FISHING IN COLOMBIA

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Ciro Mazzola, Tatiana Vasquez, Illicit Finance and Economic Threats Team; Benedetta Piva, SOUTHCOM Team Week of Monday, December 27, 2021 Fishing Nets on Boat[1] Colombia is among the top six countries in Latin America with the most significant protected marine territory.[2] Local vessels and vessel…

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There are ways to monitor IUU fishing with the technology already in use

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There are ways to monitor IUU fishing with the technology already in use

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Automatic Identification System, Vessel Monitoring System

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Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.
Effectively combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices requires far-reaching enforcement tools and comprehensive intelligence gathering. Monitoring vessels for illegally fished species, bycatch, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes ensures the sustainability of our oceans and brings justice against illegal fishers who continually evade detection.

Due to the immense surface area of the ocean seascape, instances of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are challenging to track and deter consistently. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) enacted in 1982, coastal nations are required to manage and police marine resources within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). EEZs extend a coastal States' maritime jurisdiction up to 200 miles offshore-beyond the EEZ lies the high seas. The only form of regulation over the high seas exists through Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), which are international commissions tasked with protecting certain fish stocks or ecosystems.

Maritime authorities within EEZs and on the high seas often fail to detect IUU fishing violations without proper technological and administrative resources. A lack of coast guard presence and intelligence as to IUU fishing hotspots leaves fish stocks vulnerable to IUU fishers, particularly along the coastlines of developing countries. Realistically, conducting a constant physical police presence for IUU fishing violations is infeasible; thus, implementing efficient surveillance technologies is crucial to monitoring vessel activity consistently.
MONITORING CONTROL SURVEILLANCE (MCS) CAPABILITIES
The current vessel tracking technologies utilized for policing vessel activity on the high seas are the Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS).

Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) are satellite-based surveillance systems used to monitor the location and movements of vessels within a States' EEZ. This technology transmits position reports from onboard transceiver units that certain ships must carry. The position reports are shared with the proper authorities and include vessel identification, time, date, and location.

Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) also transmit vessel location information. However, it does so at increased rates through very high frequency (VHF) radio signals accessible to more than one data collection endpoint. Unlike VMS, AIS technology broadens access to AIS information to more than one receiver. While initially developed to prevent ship collisions at sea, this technology is now employed to detect IUU fishing activity. Increased accessibility to data on IUU fishing activity encourages efficient interagency and organizational collaboration and creates more comprehensive monitoring practices against bad actors.

Where VMS records a ship's position as little as once per hour, AIS devices share their position every few seconds. This increased transmission frequency better equips authorities to detect " transshipments." Transshipment at sea occurs when fishing boats and refrigerated cargo ships transfer supplies from one ship to another. Transshipment at sea provides an opportunity for vessels to evade authorities and engage in illegal activities such as co-mingling catch, drug smuggling, weapons and human trafficking, and refueling to avoid detection.
GAPS IN ENFORCEMENT
Unfortunately, ambiguities exist in VMS and AIS monitoring systems that allow IUU fishing violators to continue undetected and unpunished. Alyssa Withrow, American Security Project's IUU Fishing Research Associate and author of Bad Catch: Examining Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing, explained, "Vessel operators can turn off both the automatic identification system (AIS) and vessel monitoring system (VMS), allowing the vessel to go 'dark' for hours to days at a time."

Gaps in legislative requirements exist as well. Today, the U.S. only requires large boats (longer than 65 feet, from stern to bow) to implement AIS, a figure comprising only 12.4% of the U.S. fishing fleet. Furthermore, these vessels are only required to have AIS turned on within 12 nautical miles of shore, an area covering less than 8% of the U.S. EEZ. In delineating exactly where state enforcement personnel are willing to police for IUU fishing violations, these regulations encourage IUU fishing activity beyond the specific scope defined by statute. IUU fishers know they can conduct illegal activities in areas where vessel location transmissions are not legally required and circumvent state oversight by employing smaller vessel fleets.
SOLUTIONS
To help combat IUU fishing practices and related forced labor abuses in the seafood supply chain, Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) introduced the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act. This bill would expand the requirements for boats to broadcast AIS beyond U.S. national waters and encompass a broader category of boats to implement this technology-both essential steps towards comprehensive IUU vessel detection and deterrence.

Beyond government, several private organizations have made advancements in technology for IUU vessel detection. Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has created the first open-access database of global fishing activity, updating vessel locations near-real-time on the high seas. To develop this technology, Global Fishing Watch partnered with: Oceana, an ocean-focused environmental non-profit; SkyTruth, a technology non-profit utilizing satellite imagery and remote sensing data for environmental protection; and Google, providing Cloud Platform access for big data processing. GFW's carrier vessel portal allows GFW and other groups policing maritime jurisdictions to plot transshipment hotspots over time, helping to predict where IUU fishing violations are likely to occur next. Open-sourced data compilations like GFW's can also detect suspected IUU fishing vessels engaged in forced labor and human trafficking. It does so providing researchers with access to data that includes tracking a vessel's time at sea, documenting gaps in AIS transmission, and recording the number of hours spent fishing per day.

The Environmental Defense Fund's Smart Boat Initiative is an effort toward implementing artificial intelligence (AI) record-keeping and vessel-counting technology in small remote fishing industries. Their six pilot programs, operating from Indonesia to the California coast, are working to reduce costs for electronic monitoring, improve efficiency in data collection and species sorting, and automate other onboard compliance systems. Harnessing AI technology to expedite catch reporting and data processing streamlines vessel compliance to prevent IUU fishing. Smart Boat Initiative provides access to monitoring technologies that are often difficult to implement for small-scale fishing vessels operations due to lack of resources.

The Department of Defense currently runs a cooperative program with GFW that enlists private tech companies in the U.S. to develop innovative tools for detecting IUU fishing on the high seas. The xView3 Challenge is a competition awarding a $150,000 cash prize to the participating individual or company that develops the best performing algorithm for identifying and classifying synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery of suspected IUU fishing vessels.

Policing the world's vast and complex ocean ecosystem is nearly impossible without efficient monitoring technology. Partnerships between the tech industry, fishing companies, and governments can encourage streamlined solutions to bolster maritime security. Implementing state-of-the-art monitoring equipment like AIS and VMS on vessels worldwide is vital to holding bad actors accountable for engaging in IUU fishing activity. Regardless of size or registration status, legislation should require monitoring devices such as VMS or AIS on all ships. Ensuring the longevity of global fish stocks requires participation and transparency from all parties fishing our oceans. Accounting for all vessels will create the most precise data set possible, informing state policymakers in shaping more innovative and adaptable regulations for sustainable fishing into the future.

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Monitoring Technology in the Fight Against IUU Fishing

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Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.Effectively combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices requires far-reaching enforcement tools and comprehensive intelligence gathering. Monitoring vessels for illegally fished species, bycatch, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes ensures the sustainability of our oceans and brings justice against illegal fishers who continually evade detection.

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September 2022 US Senate Bill to take on IUU fishing

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September 2022 US Senate Bill to take on IUU fishing

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Democratic and Republican senators crossed the aisle in Washington to introduce a bill aimed to cut down on illegal, unregulated and unlicensed (IUU) fishing.

The Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act, introduced by Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan, and Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse would blacklist ships caught engaging in the trade, ban them from U.S. ports and waters and provide further funding for the Coast Guard to challenge the trade.

Illegal fishing is believed to account for as much of a fifth of the world's catch, feeding populations the size of entire nations, but is replete with connections to organized crime and causes untold ecological damage.

"Money laundering, labor exploitation, corruption and forgery are a small sample of serious crimes commonly committed during IUU fishing today," Interpol said in a 2020 report on the extent of the crime.

Earlier this summer, U.S. President Joe Biden released a Memorandum outlining his administration's dedication to combating the trade. At the same time, he sent his trade representative, Katherine Tai to Alaska to meet with local fishers.

"Alaska is the superpower of seafood, the source of roughly two-thirds of all seafood harvested in the United States," said Sen. Sullivan in a statement after he introduced the bill. "Our fishery's extraordinary abundance is the result of responsible stewards who've sustainably managed this incredible resource and followed the rules. But not all vessels and countries abide by these rules, ravaging fish stocks without regard for other users or future generations-particularly the worst offender, China."

China's distant water fishing fleet - sometimes called the 'Dark Fleet' for its habit of turning off AIS tracking systems - is 17,000 ships strong and is the largest in the world. It has been plundering the world's oceans to feed China's bulging population. The fleet has been caught with numerous cases of forced labor as well as fishing on the edges of protected waters, such as the area around the Galapagos Islands.

"Distant water fishing vessels, which engage in industrial-scale fishing operations on the high seas and in waters under other states' jurisdictions, can be significant perpetrators of IUU fishing and related harmful fishing practices," President Biden said, noting that IUU fishing often involves forced labor and other crimes.

Left unchecked, all this undermines the economic competitiveness of the United States as well as its national security, fishery sustainability and the livelihoods and human rights of fishers around the world and threatens to exacerbate the environmental and socioeconomic effects of climate change, Biden said in his July memorandum.

The proposed act would stop those vessels who engage in the trade from doing business with the United States or in U.S. waters. While that may not stop powerhouses like China, it could have a significant effect on smaller scale illegal fishers.

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A Bipartisan US Senate Bill Takes on Illegal Fishing

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Democratic and Republican senators crossed the aisle in Washington to introduce a bill aimed to cut down on illegal, unregulated and unlicensed (IUU) fishing. The Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act, introduced by Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan, and Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse would blacklist ships caught engaging in the trade, ban them from U.S.

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Alessandro Ford - Investigator - InSight Crime | LinkedIn

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Illegal fishing is out of control in the Mexican state of Yucatán, according to local fishermen and media, as illegal techniques, competition from out-of-state vessels, and dwindling fisheries combine to threaten a major national industry.

Fishermen cite a laundry list of problems, including vessels illegally capturing fish that are smaller than allowed as well as fishing during the closed season, according to La Jornada Maya, a local newspaper. Many of these fishing vessels are coming from nearby states such as Campeche, Tabasco and Quintana Roo, leading to a dramatic fall in the numbers of octopus, lobsters, groupers and sea cucumbers available to be fished by the Yucatán fleet.

Tentacles of Organized Crime in Mexico Extend to Octopus Theft

Some of these out-of-state vessels are even using industrial fishing methods such as unregulated transshipments - a controversial practice of transferring catch onto a mothership in exchange for fuel and food, allowing the boats to fish for longer periods and potentially launder illegally caught fish.

Similar allegations were also reported on July 1, when fishing captains told local media that about 40 boats from the port of Celestún in Yucatán were to spend ten days fishing in a range of protected areas. The captains stated that while the main boats would be catching fish within legal norms, they would dispatch dozens of smaller vessels to catch smaller fish than permitted illicitly.

One of the areas targeted by these boats is the Scorpion Reef, off the northern coast of Yucatán. This national park is one of Mexico's marine protected areas most at risk from illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, according to a May 2021 report by Oceana, a maritime protection non-governmental organization. Between 2012 and 2021, "106 vessels potentially engaged in fishing activities were detected in [the National Park's] core area, a perimeter in which any type of fishing is prohibited," the report said.

InSight Crime Analysis

Debates about illegal fishing in Latin America often focus on large foreign fleets or small-scale domestic fishing workers. What these analyses sometimes miss, however, is how in some areas, domestic fishing workers are increasingly acting like big foreign fleets.

Transshipping is a bizarre practice for fishing vessels operating in their own national waters, since in normal circumstances, the extra fuel, food, ice and transport costs would far outweigh the value of any additional catch. Even the big foreign fleets only remain profitable due to huge fuel subsidies from their national governments.

Thus, the answer likely lies not in strength but in weakness. The exact state of Mexico's fisheries is unclear - government statistics claim 17 percent are overfished or depleted, and a further 63 percent cannot withstand any additional fishing pressure - yet anecdotal evidence suggests the problem may be far greater.

In the Diario de Yucatán, fishing workers complained that dwindling stocks mean they have to travel further and further out to fish and that even then, their catch is falling steadily every year. They attributed the appearance in their waters of fishing vessels - from Campeche, Tabasco, Veracruz and Quintana Roo - practicing transshipment to the same phenomenon. Those states' reserves are even more depleted.

Chinese Fishing Fleet Leaves Ecuador, Peru, Chile Scrambling to Respond

"It's a huge problem, all over the country. Illegal fishing has many manifestations, and in one form or another, it is prevalent in all of our coastal states," Pedro Zapata, a senior campaign advisor at Oceana, told InSight Crime.

Furthermore, he added that many local fishing workers may inadvertently exacerbate the problem because of Mexico's opaque, disorganized fisheries management.

"[T]he fisheries agency (CONAPESCA) has become more and more incompetent and absent... [and] even knowing exactly what is legal and what is illegal is complicated sometimes, as laws are changed constantly," he told InSight Crime.

That shows up in the numbers. At the global level, IUU fishing is estimated to account for 20 percent of all catch. In Mexico, that number rises to a staggering 50 percent - roughly one in every two kilos of fish caught in the country is done so illegally, according to a 2013 report by the Environmental Defense Fund of Mexico.

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Fishermen Call for Aid Against Illegal Fishing in Yucatán, Mexico

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Illegal fishing is out of control in the Mexican state of Yucatán, according to local fishermen and media, as illegal techniques, competition from out-of-state vessels, and dwindling fisheries combine to threaten a major national industry.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ecuador is a constitutional, multiparty republic with an elected president and unicameral legislature. On April 11, voters elected President Guillermo Lasso Mendoza from a center-right alliance among the Creating Opportunities Movement and the Social Christian Party and selected members of the National Assembly in elections that observers deemed free and fair.

The National Police maintains internal security and law enforcement and is under the authority of the Ministry of Government. The military is under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense and is responsible for external security. Police and military forces share responsibility for border enforcement, with the military also having limited domestic security responsibilities. The military may complement police operations to maintain and control public order when expressly mandated. Migration officers are civilians and report to the Ministry of Government. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. There were credible reports that members of the security forces committed some abuses.

Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: torture and abuse by police officers and prison guards; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; the existence of criminal libel laws; serious acts of government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for violence against women and children; and the use of child labor.

The government took steps to investigate and prosecute officials who committed human rights abuses and against those accused of corruption.

Members of criminal gangs operating in prisons committed acts of torture and killed their rivals during prison disturbances. The government investigated these crimes, and prosecutions were pending. There were incidents of violence and threats of violence against journalists by likely nongovernment actors. Members of society engaged in crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons.

Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person

a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings

There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.

Human rights organizations, however, reported excessive force by security forces was likely responsible for several of the 11 deaths reported by the comptroller during October 2019 protests against the government's economic reforms. Ministry of Government officials indicated that only eight deaths were linked to demonstrations, and they argued that the causes of death were either due to force majeure actions of police attempting to control violent crowds or accidents that did not result from direct police action. A March 17 report from the ombudsman-created Special Commission for Truth and Justice alleged that up to six of the deaths during the protests could constitute extrajudicial killings and called on judicial authorities to further investigate the actions of security forces. Criminal investigations concerning the entire range of crimes committed during the several weeks of organized violence - including lootings, arson, attacks on public employees and institutions - that accompanied the political protests did not significantly advance before year's end.

On August 30, a judge accepted a prosecutor's request to indict two former police officers accused of attempted murder (constituting an attempted extrajudicial killing) in 2010 of taxi driver Aldo Zambrano in Guayaquil. The judge found the former officers had acted arbitrarily and negligently in shooting Zambrano.

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities.

Regarding the 2012 kidnapping in Colombia of opposition legislator Fernando Balda, in August 2020 the National Court of Justice found former intelligence director Pablo Romero guilty of planning the abduction under the orders of former president Rafael Correa, who was also indicted but remained in Belgium despite extradition requests. Romero appealed the ruling, with a subsequent ruling pending as of October 27. The National Court confirmed that Ecuador's extradition request remained in process as of October 27.

On January 28, the country's representative to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights accepted the state's responsibility for the forced disappearance in Quito in 1990 of writer Cesar Gustavo Garzon Guzman. The agents responsible for Garzon's disappearance remained unknown.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

While the law prohibits torture and similar forms of intimidation and punishment, there were reports that police officers and prison guards tortured and abused suspects and prisoners.

Human rights activists asserted that as of September 28, officials had not investigated claims alleging police kidnappings and torture or other forms of degrading treatment during police interrogations related to the October 2019 protests. Human rights advocates said prosecutors could potentially request the cases be closed starting in October, since the law stipulates the statute of limitations is two years for some crimes, although longer for more egregious ones.

A hearing on the case concerning the February 2020 deaths of six prisoners in Turi Prison was scheduled for January 2022 to identify which prison officials or inmates may be responsible for the speculated torture resulting in the deaths.

On November 14, a court in Azuay Province sentenced 37 police officers to 106 days in prison each for excessive use of force in a 2016 operation to confiscate contraband from inmates in Turi Prison. In the operation, officers beat and forced alleged violators to perform exercises in stressful positions while nude. The prosecutor's office, which sought convictions for torture, said it would appeal the ruling.

On February 10, the Attorney General's Office announced a 12-year, seven-month prison sentence for a police officer in Pillaro, Tungurahua Province, for raping a 24-year-old woman in September 2020 after taking her on a date in his patrol car.

Although impunity was not a significant problem in the security forces, human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups reported the lack of prosecutions against police officers who allegedly used excessive force against demonstrators during October 2019 protests could be interpreted as impunity. The government did not announce further actions taken to address public concern regarding alleged human rights abuses during the protests.

The Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police investigates whether police killings are justifiable and can refer cases to the Attorney General's Office to pursue prosecutions. An intelligence branch within the military has a role similar to the police internal affairs unit. The law states that the Attorney General's Office must be involved in all human rights abuse investigations, including unlawful killings and forced disappearances. Human rights defenders reported the National Police Internal Affairs Unit and Attorney General's Office often failed to conduct investigations adequately. Activists stated follow-up on abuse claims was difficult due to high staff turnover in the Internal Affairs Unit.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening due to escalating gang violence, official corruption, food shortages, gross overcrowding, harassment by security guards against prisoners and visitors, physical and sexual abuse, and inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care.

Physical Conditions: Prisons continued to be overcrowded despite efforts to alleviate the problem. As of March 19, the official overpopulation estimate was 29 percent. A human rights NGO reported prison conditions were often better for female inmates due to their lower population density.

By law juveniles cannot be tried as adults, and individuals convicted as juveniles serve their full sentence in juvenile prisons. A 2019 report in the daily newspaper El Comercio said 40 percent of the population in the 11 centers for juvenile offenders were due to reach adulthood during their sentence.

Prison officials and human rights organizations agreed most violent deaths in prisons were linked to tension among criminal gangs with links to drug cartels. Fighting between drug-trafficking gangs in prisons led to 331 violent deaths through October 27, the highest-ever recorded annual total, with gangs employing increasingly brutal and sophisticated tactics. As of October prison deaths were more than six times the 2020 total (52) and more than 10 times the 2019 total (32). On February 23, coordinated attacks across four prisons between armed prison gangs resulted in a total of 79 inmates dead. The July 22 prison riots in the Latacunga Rehabilitation Center in Cotopaxi Province and the Litoral Prison in Guayaquil left 22 inmates dead. On September 28, a record 118 inmates died after continued fighting in Litoral Prison, and an additional 65 inmates died in November 12 clashes in the same facility. Other prison disturbances throughout the year included four inmates killed by hanging, also at Litoral Prison, on October 13 and seven on October 23. Police and prison authorities continued investigations into the incidents as of December 1.

During the July 22 riot, prison gangs injured eight police officers and sexually assaulted one female police officer as police attempted to retake control. Further, in the July 22 riots, inmates reportedly fired on prison staff and police reinforcements with high-caliber rifles, complicating government efforts to re-establish control. Government and media sources pointed out that gangs employed more gruesome tactics than in the past, including beheadings, dismemberment, live incineration, and torture. These events were captured on video and shared widely on commercial messaging services, presumably to intimidate rival gangs and the government.

NGOs reported that criminal organizations operating within and outside of prisons intimidated prison staff while on and off duty and inmates enlisted visitors and prison staff to help smuggle contraband into prisons. On July 13, the Attorney General's Office placed in pretrial detention a suspect arrested while attempting to smuggle two rifles, four handguns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and four explosive grenades into Litoral Prison. On June 30, a Venezuelan national was arrested outside Litoral Prison and placed into pretrial detention for attempting to smuggle more than six pounds of cocaine and marijuana, a shotgun, three handguns, ammunition of various calibers, and other prohibited items.

In August 2020 Israeli citizen Shy Dahan (incarcerated for alleged ties to corruption in acquiring medical equipment and fraudulent COVID-19 testing kits in a scheme allegedly involving former president Abdala Bucaram) was found dead in his cell in Litoral Prison. On March 9, media reported former Litoral Prison director Hector Vivar was sentenced to 20 months in prison for extortion and ordered to pay a fine. Vivar was convicted for his involvement in a bribery scheme in which he demanded $30,000 in exchange for Dahan's protection and safety. According to media Vivar had two other cases against him, one for illicit association, the other for delinquency, linked to his time as prison director pending as of September 18.

On August 25, the Attorney General's Office announced three inmates were sentenced to 34 years and eight months each for the murder of two other inmates in Litoral Prison in July 2020.

President Lasso declared a state of emergency following the July 22 prison riots and replaced the prison system director to help re-establish control. Minister of Government Alexandra Vela proposed to decrease prison violence by reducing overcrowding through the release of approximately 5,200 nonviolent offenders, foreigners, and elderly inmates. Law enforcement experts noted that such a plan was unlikely to reduce violence in the short term because power disputes between gangs dominating the prisons remained unresolved. On August 18, new prison system director Fausto Cobo announced an additional $75 million in funding over four years to improve prison infrastructure, upgrade surveillance technology, and hire and train additional prison staff. After the first state of emergency expired September 20, President Lasso declared a second state of emergency on September 29 in response to the September 28 prison killings and announced an additional $24 million to improve security and conditions specifically in Guayaquil area prisons. Lasso renewed the state of emergency in the prison system for 30 days on November 29.

On November 15, the president announced a comprehensive, seven-point "national agreement" to curb prison violence and confront drug-trafficking gangs. The plan included elements such as continued police and military efforts to provide order and security inside and outside prisons, legislative changes to reform use of force protocols, accelerated judicial processes to reduce overcrowding, and civil society support for conflict resolution between prison gangs.

Access to and quality of food, potable and hot water, heating, sanitation, and medical care were inadequate. Officials verified that inmates did not have safe and permanent access to healthful food. In 2018 government officials detected a deterioration of the water systems at prison facilities with noticeable difficulties in access to drinking water, especially at the Latacunga Rehabilitation Center. A November 2020 media report highlighted that potable water would be brought into the Latacunga prison via truck "permanently."

Prisoners noted inconsistent and generally insufficient protection and isolation measures from COVID-19 infection in prisons. On February 1, media reported that 124 inmates had died nationwide of COVID-19-related complications and noted 17,042 (of 37,676 total) inmates in prisons nationwide tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020. The same media report highlighted the August 2020 ombudsman report, which stated that despite the stresses the COVID-19 pandemic placed on the prison health-care system - most prominently, inadequate staffing - prisons continued to provide adequate care overall for other illnesses among inmates including diabetes, HIV, and hypertension. Prisoners noted inconsistent and generally insufficient protection and isolation measures from COVID-19 infection in prisons.

An NGO reported that prison officials, including medical staff, often failed to screen adequately and segregate prisoners with mental and physical disabilities from the rest of the prison population.

Administration: Authorities sometimes conducted investigations of credible allegations of mistreatment in prisons.

Human rights organizations continued to report that visitors faced degrading treatment during check-in at prison facilities, including the removal of clothing and illumination of genitalia by flashlights while forced to jump naked.

Independent Monitoring: Civil society representatives continued to report restrictions to monitoring by independent NGO observers. According to the NGO Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, authorities failed to respond to many independent observers' requests to visit prisons. Prison officials explained that monitoring groups' safety could not be guaranteed, especially during the state of emergency in the penitentiary system.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and provides for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of his or her arrest or detention in court, but there were reports that provincial and local authorities did not always observe these provisions. According to NGOs, illegal detentions continued to occur.

Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees

The law requires authorities to issue specific written arrest orders prior to detention, and a judge must charge a suspect with a specific criminal offense within 24 hours of arrest. NGOs stated that judges frequently did not determine a specific criminal offense, particularly for arrests of protesters. Authorities generally observed the time limit for charging a suspect, although in some provinces initial detention was often considerably longer. Detainees have the right to be informed of the charges against them. By law if the initial investigation report is incriminating, the judge, upon the prosecutor's request, may order pretrial detention. Judges at times ordered a detainee's release pending trial with the use of monitoring anklets.

Detainees have a constitutional right to an attorney. Those without financial means to pay for an attorney have the right to request a court-appointed attorney from the Public Defenders' Office. Although there were many available court-appointed defenders, the number of cases and limited time to prepare for the defense continued to present a disadvantage to defendants during trials.

The law entitles detainees to prompt access to lawyers and family members, but NGOs continued to report delays depending on the circumstances and the willingness of local courts and prison guards to enforce the law.

Pretrial Detention: Corruption and general judicial inefficiency caused trial delays. Police, prosecutors, public defenders, and judges did not receive adequate training. The length of pretrial detention did not usually exceed the maximum sentence for the alleged crime.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

While the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, outside pressure and corruption impaired the judicial process. Legal experts, bar associations, and NGOs reported on the susceptibility of the judiciary to bribes for favorable decisions and faster resolution of legal cases. As of October 25, authorities had made no information available on the selection of permanent replacement of Judicial Council members after 23 of 36 evaluated judges were deemed not to have met the minimum qualification threshold in 2019 and were replaced by temporary judges from lower courts appointed by the council.

In January 2020 six former police officials convicted for "paralyzing a public service" during a 2010 police protest known as 30-S were released from prison on appeal. In June 2020 four other former police officials sentenced to 12 years in prison in the same incident presented a revision appeal to the National Court of Justice. The appellants, after serving nearly six years in prison, were released as they awaited the court's ruling, and November 24, the court acquitted the officials of all charges.

Trial Procedures

The law provides for the right to a fair and public trial, although delays occurred frequently. The law presumes a defendant innocent until proven guilty. Defendants have the right to be informed promptly of the charges in detail. The accused have the right to consult with an attorney or to have one provided and to appeal. Defendants have the right to free assistance from an interpreter, but some defendants complained about the lack of an interpreter at court hearings. Defendants have the right to adequate time and resources to prepare their defense, although in practice this was not always the case, and delays in providing translation services made this difficult for some foreign defendants. Foreigners also often faced a language barrier with their public defenders, which impaired their ability to present a defense. Defendants have the right to be present at their trial. The accused may also present evidence and call witnesses, invoke the right against self-incrimination, and confront and cross-examine witnesses.

Judges reportedly rendered decisions more quickly or more slowly due to media and political pressure or fear in some cases. There were reported delays of up to one year in scheduling some trials.

Criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing congested dockets in criminal cases produced "simplified" proceedings in pretrial stages, resulting in faster resolution of cases. Prisoners reported that after cases reached a higher court, however, lengthy delays ensued in setting dates for preliminary hearings.

The regular court system tried most defendants, although some indigenous groups judged members independently under their own community rules for violations that occurred in indigenous territory, as provided under the constitution.

Defendants' counsels complained that some modified remote proceedings due to the COVID-19 pandemic inhibited their ability to represent their clients adequately, and several noted that new procedural rules were inconsistently and sometimes arbitrarily applied.

Political Prisoners and Detainees

There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.

According to an August 1 report from a local human rights group, restrictions were not yet fully removed for indigenous leaders granted amnesty in the previous year. In July 2020 the National Assembly approved a resolution granting amnesty to 20 indigenous leaders charged and convicted in 2015 for kidnapping and extortion after participating in protests. Aside from ordering the immediate release of four leaders still in detention, the resolution expunged all criminal records related to the charges, revoked any outstanding arrest warrants against any individuals, and removed any precautionary measures or prison alternatives that had been previously issued. Nevertheless, in May an official from Canar Province Property Registry reported that according to registry records, nine of the 20 persons granted amnesty still had their land assets frozen. The report added that prohibitions against leaving the country and against voting remained in place for some of the leaders, while fines paid in the previous convictions had not been reimbursed by the Judicial Council.

Human rights organizations reported that 150 abused and detained demonstrators continued to face legal processes for the same alleged 2015 acts.

Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies

Civil courts and the Administrative Conflicts Tribunal, generally considered independent and impartial, handle lawsuits seeking damages for, or immediate ending of, human rights violations. Individuals and organizations may appeal decisions domestically and to regional human rights bodies.

f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The law prohibits such actions, and there were no reports the government failed to respect these prohibitions.

Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties

a. Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media

The constitution provides for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, but laws restrict this right. Experts cautioned that restrictive provisions to journalistic work found in a 2013 communication law, reformed in 2019, technically remained in effect, although on May 24, President Lasso ordered the implementing regulations of that law no longer be applied.

On January 26, the National Assembly reformed the communication law, reversing provisions that previously characterized media and communications as a public service, not a right, and required all journalists to hold university degrees. Some other restrictive provisions found in other laws, such as punishing opinions as slander, which carries a prison term of six months to two years, remained in force but were not applied in practice. Journalists and NGOs said the media environment under the new administration seemed less restrictive than in the past, although replacement legislation was necessary to repeal the previous, more restrictive framework and institutionalize reforms to facilitate greater freedom of expression.

Freedom of Expression: The law prohibits citizens from using "discrediting expressions," treated as a misdemeanor with a 15- to 30-day prison term. There were no reports the government invoked this law to restrict freedom of expression during the year.

Freedom of Expression for Members of the Press and Other Media, Including Online Media: The law limits media's ability to provide election coverage during the official campaign period, with no coverage allowed in the 48 hours preceding a national election. A constitutional court ruling affirmed the right of the press to conduct interviews and file special reports on candidates and issues during the campaign period, but the ruling left in place restrictions on "direct or indirect" promotion of candidates or specific political views.

A presidential decree in May in effect eliminates the offense of inciting "financial panic," which previously carried a penalty of imprisonment from five to seven years. It also eliminates mandates on time allocated for television and radio broadcast of messages and reports by the president and his cabinet, as well as provisions for the planned redistribution of broadcast frequencies between community media and private and public media. Indigenous political and community leaders were concerned that any future redistribution of broadcast frequencies, potentially in the open market, would reduce or eliminate access to free, public radio (in various native languages especially) in isolated areas inhabited by diverse indigenous populations.

The Agency for the Regulation and Control of Telecommunications (ARCOTEL) completed its competitive public tender to allocate 3,096 FM radio frequencies in November 2020. Media reported that between December 2020 and February, qualifying titles valid for 15 years were awarded to 340 participants. Fundamedios and other civil society groups continued to criticize the bidding process as lacking transparency and allowing two particular bidders to accumulate a disproportionate number of frequencies. These groups noted the potential agglomeration of radio frequencies under one domain threatened freedom of expression by inducing self-censorship among media outlets.

On January 12, ARCOTEL announced the start of separate public tenders for the concession of 2,347 additional FM radio and 3,016 broadcast television frequencies. On March 23, Fundamedios called on the government to further delay the bidding process, considering the proximity to the second round of presidential elections scheduled for April 11. The formal bidding process was pending as of October 27.

Violence and Harassment: On January 27, gunmen shot and killed popular television presenter Efrain Ruales Rios, allegedly for a string of social media posts critical of drug gangs reportedly linked to influential political families, especially that of former president Bucaram. Victor Gonzalez, the lead prosecutor investigating the Ruales killing, stated he started receiving death threats on July 6 after giving an interview in which he speculated on those allegedly responsible for Ruales's death. Gonzalez added he had since received police protection. On November 26, a trial started against six persons accused in a conspiracy to murder Ruales.

Also on January 27, former president Bucaram, in an interview regarding the Ruales killing and in response to accusations about his family, issued death threats to several individuals, including national television journalist Dayanna Monroy, whose reporting he had criticized since October 2020. On February 3, then presidential spokesperson Caridad Vela stated the government rejected intimidation attempts against Monroy and other journalists and would offer police protection to Monroy.

On April 25, Blanca Moncada, a writer for the newspaper Diario Expreso, published an investigation critical of Guayaquil mayor Cynthia Viteri for perceived exorbitant city street cleaning expenditures. On April 28, a graphic circulated on digital platforms with Moncada's photograph, describing her as an "Enemy of Guayaquil" and accusing her of being funded by "mafias" opposed to the local government. Moncada claimed to Fundamedios that a troll center from the Guayaquil mayor's office was responsible for the graphic. On May 12, Moncada, writing for the same outlet, said Viteri justified supposed high salaries for public employees in the municipal government, with many of the highest-paying positions going to relatives of individuals also working in the municipality. Viteri responded to the claim of nepotism by stating she had never in public or private said such things and that Diario Expreso held a "political bias" against her administration.

Fundamedios condemned the National Police's use of canines for crowd control during an August 11 incident in which independent photojournalist Juan Diego Montenegro was bit by a police dog while covering public protests in Quito. Montenegro claimed a police officer slackened the working dog's leash to get within range to bite Montenegro.

Censorship or Content Restrictions: There were reports government officials tried to penalize those who published items critical of the government. Fundamedios reported eight potential censorship cases involving government officials as of September 9.

On January 12, the Pichincha Provincial Electoral Delegation ordered the immediate suspension of a political advertisement exclusively featuring former president Correa asking voters to support the Union for Hope (UNES) coalition linked to him. Under the constitution and in accordance with the terms of an April 2020 corruption conviction against him (see section 4), Correa had lost his political rights, so his likeness was prohibited from campaign materials for any political candidate or party. UNES presidential candidate Andres Arauz denounced the decision and alerted international observers to supposed censorship and arbitrary application of the law. The suspension was subsequently upheld, and election monitoring NGOs said Correa and the party flouted the restriction throughout the campaign period.

On September 2, unidentified individuals claiming to be agents from the Attorney General's Office deleted photographs from La Posta digital outlet reporter Domenica Vivanco's mobile telephone as she covered a story about a raid on offices tied to a construction company allegedly linked to favorable contracts with Quito mayor Jorge Yunda.

Libel/Slander Laws: Libel is a criminal offense under the law, with penalties of up to three years in prison, plus fines. The law assigns responsibility to media owners, who are liable for opinion pieces or statements by reporters or others, including readers, using their media platforms. Monitoring organizations reported the government did not use libel laws against journalists during the year.

The Law Against Digital Violence, approved by the National Assembly on July 9, expands the prohibition on expressions meant to "discredit or dishonor" another person to acts committed over digital mediums.

Nongovernmental Impact: Unknown persons conducted attacks against journalists throughout the year. Domestic and international media rights groups reported on a January 19 incident in which a gunman shot and wounded Sucumbios Province radio show host Marilu Capa in a Lago Agrio restaurant. Media reported an August 26 incident in which an individual on a bicycle threw and then remotely detonated an explosive object on the balcony of digital journalist Mario Pinto's Machala home in El Oro Province, although nobody was injured. A previous, similar attempt on his home in December 2020 also resulted in no injuries. Pinto reported on crime in the city. Police were investigating both incidents, but no further developments were available as of December 1.

Stigmatization and hateful speech against journalists and media surged during the election campaign. According to journalists, phrases such as "corrupt press" and "sold-out press" were frequently replicated across broad sectors and on social media starting in January, particularly after former president Correa posted in response to damaging news stories about the Arauz presidential campaign or after publication of investigations into opaque public projects developed under the Correa administration. Investigations of corrupt practices by others (including former president Bucaram) also led to online insults and threats to journalists from the implicated individuals and their allies. NGOs and journalists reported the volume of threatening posts and overall feeling of stigmatization decreased significantly after the April 11 election of President Lasso.

Actions to Expand Freedom of Expression, including for Members of the Online Media: The National Committee for the Protection of Journalists, a joint government-civil society committee formed in 2019, met periodically in response to prominent instances of attacks against journalists. Groups including Fundamedios criticized the committee, saying it lacked strategic vision and planning and often did not follow up on cases in an integrated manner. The groups expressed concern that the haphazard and reactionary government approach to attacks on journalists gave the impression they could be threatened and attacked with relative impunity.

Internet Freedom

The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet, but human rights organizations and media outlets reported cases of online content censorship.

On May 26, the Personal Data Protection Law went into effect. Among the law's provisions, citizens have the right to access and edit their personal information through the civil registry or any other public or private institution that holds personal records; it sets terms under which personal data may be transferred to third parties; it establishes penalties for the misuse of personal data; it sets penalties and remediation measures for unauthorized data breaches; and it mandates the creation of a Data Protection Superintendency to monitor and identify violations of personal data use. The law also specifies that data protection provisions in the law would apply to foreign entities that store Ecuadorian nationals' information on their servers. At the same time, the government declared the law's "extraterritoriality" provision would not impede the cross-border flow of data. Media watchdog groups such as Fundamedios largely praised the law for establishing high standards for data and privacy protection while protecting freedom of expression.

A government regulation requires that internet service providers comply with all information requests from the superintendent of telecommunications, allowing access to client addresses and information without a judicial order. The law holds a media outlet responsible for online comments from readers if the outlet has not established mechanisms for commenters to register their personal data (including national identification number) or created a system to delete offensive comments. The law also prohibits media from using information obtained from social media unless they can verify the author of the information.

Academic Freedom and Cultural Events

There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The law provides for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights, although the government imposed some restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government had declared and extended a broad state of emergency between March and September 2020 until a Constitutional Court decision in August 2020 prohibited the president from renewing the state of emergency using the same grounds as previous requests. The court ruled the state of emergency, which included de facto restrictions on freedom of assembly and association, "cannot be extended indefinitely" because the government needed to transition to a condition allowing "the enjoyment and exercise of constitutional rights threatened (under a state of emergency)."

Freedom of Peaceful Assembly

The law provides for freedom of peaceful assembly, and the government generally respected this right. Public rallies require prior government permits, which authorities usually granted.

On May 5, the Constitutional Court ruled as unconstitutional Ministerial Agreement 179, issued in May 2020 by the minister of defense. The agreement governed a May 2020 protocol on the use of force formulated in response to state-sponsored visits by missions from the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which concluded state security forces used excessive force to contain the October 2019 antigovernment protests. The court reviewed the agreement in response to complaints by several human rights organizations that argued such a protocol was unconstitutional. The organizations claimed the constitution grants the power to re-establish public order only to police and not the armed forces; the armed forces' role is limited solely to the protection of national sovereignty and territorial integrity; and the protocol, as written, posed a threat to the full exercise of human rights by providing the military wide latitude to intervene in future protests. The court declared in its ruling that armed forces' involvement in controlling public order and citizen security must be "extraordinary, subordinate and complementary, regulated, and supervised." In addition, armed forces' involvement must be carried out within a declared state of exception, in strict adherence to the law and under orders of the president of the country. Legislation or subsequent regulations implementing the court's ruling were pending as of December 1.

Freedom of Association

The law provides for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right. Civil society representatives noted that some policies enacted during the Correa administration remained in place and could enable the government to dissolve independent organizations for poorly defined reasons.

c. Freedom of Religion

See the Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report at https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/ .

d. Freedom of Movement and Right to Leave the Country

The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights.

e. Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons

Not applicable.

f. Protection of Refugees

The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other vulnerable persons of concern. In addition, the human mobility law codifies protections granted to migrants in the constitution, advances the protection of refugees and asylum seekers, and establishes provisions such as equal treatment before the law for migrants, nonrefoulement, and noncriminalization of irregular migration.

Access to Asylum: The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees.

Abuse of Migrants and Refugees: Migrants and refugees, especially women and children, sometimes experienced sexual and gender-based violence. UN agencies and local NGOs reported refugee women and children were susceptible to violence and human trafficking, including forced labor, sex trafficking, and the forced recruitment of individuals into criminal activity, such as drug trafficking and robbery, on the northern border, particularly by organized-crime gangs that also operated in Colombia. Government authorities provided basic protection for vulnerable populations; however, continued inflows of migrants and refugees at irregular crossings amid continued border closures complicated the government's ability to address and prevent abuses against migrants and refugees.

Access to Basic Services: The law provides for access to health care, education, and other services to all individuals irrespective of their migration status. Nonetheless, most Venezuelan migrant and refugee children remained out of the school system, according to official government statistics. According to NGOs, barriers to the enrollment and retention of refugee and migrant children in school included a lack of information about universal access to education; hidden costs of schooling such as uniforms; lack of classroom space; and, in some instances, xenophobic attitudes towards Venezuelans. According to UN agencies and NGOs, refugees encountered discrimination in employment and housing. Recognized refugees received national identification cards that facilitated access to education, employment, banking, and other public services. Refugees and migrants reported that in certain instances, employers did not recognize government-issued documents that establish their right to work.

Durable Solutions: The government accepted refugees for resettlement and offered naturalization to refugees but had recognized very small numbers of Venezuelan refugees. Discrimination and limited access to formal employment and housing affected refugees' ability to assimilate into the local population.

Temporary Protection: The government implemented a special humanitarian visa process for Venezuelans from September 2019 to December 2020, which led to the issuance of more than 56,000 two-year humanitarian visas. To uphold President Lasso's June commitment to launch a new regularization process for Venezuelan migrants, the government began designing a new regularization process.

Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process

The law provides citizens the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

Recent Elections: In nationwide elections held on February 7, citizens voted the president and vice president, 137 National Assembly members, and five representatives to the Andean Parliament. Creating Opportunities Movement candidate Guillermo Lasso Mendoza defeated UNES opponent Andres Arauz Galarza in an April 11 presidential runoff election. Official results indicated that almost 83 percent of more than 13.1 million registered voters participated in the runoff election. International observers from the Organization of American States, Inter-American Union of Electoral Organisms, and accredited diplomatic missions concluded the electoral process was orderly and peaceful, and they did not note any significant incidents.

Participation of Women and Members of Minority Groups: No laws limit participation of women or members of minority groups in the political process, and they did participate. The February 2020 electoral reforms require that women lead no fewer than 15 percent of party candidate lists at all levels in 2021, at least 30 percent in scheduled 2023 local elections, and 50 percent in 2025. The law mandates that all presidential/vice presidential tickets include at least one woman starting in the 2025 national election.

In May the local NGO Participacion Ciudadana reported that despite the 2020 reforms, the percentage of female legislators elected decreased compared with 2017 (39 to 37 percent), with the proportion of female legislators progressively decreasing in every national election since the 2013 high (when 42 percent of all elected legislators were women). Further the report found most parties failed to fully abide by the reform requirement that women lead certain percentages of party candidate lists. The UNES coalition was an exception, as it exceeded the requirement in nearly all instances.

Social media harassment against female politicians and candidates continued, although the harassment generally declined compared with 2020. Participacion Ciudadana found 8,839 derogatory tweets against 28 sampled women in politics and government in a study of tweets posted between December 2019 and August 31. The study indicated violent messages against female politicians peaked in April 2020, as COVID-19 national quarantine measures took hold and women headed prominent ministries and served as government spokespersons most relevant to the lockdown. According to the study, 79 percent of derogatory tweets contained messaging dealing with the objectification of women and perceived roles of women in society.

Section 4. Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government

The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, and the government took steps to implement the law effectively. There were numerous reports of government corruption throughout the year.

Corruption: The government launched or continued multiple investigations, judicial proceedings, and legislative audits of officials accused of corruption related to state contracts and commercial endeavors that reached the highest levels of government.

High-profile prosecutions and investigations of alleged public-health sector corruption during the COVID-19 crisis at the national, provincial, and municipal levels continued. On May 17, former Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS) board president Paul Granda was called to trial for charges of organized crime along with two former IESS hospital managers. Granda was also accused of alleged irregularities in medical supply acquisition contracts during the COVID-19 emergency. As of December 1, the date for proceedings remained pending.

Regarding the Sobornos (bribes) corruption scheme that illicitly financed former president Rafael Correa's Alianza PAIS party in exchange for public contracts from 2012 to 2016, former vice president Jorge Glas was serving his eight-year sentence for involvement in the scheme, in addition to a six-year sentence in a separate case for an illicit association connected to Brazilian company Odebrecht. On August 18, Interpol denied a National Court of Justice request to issue a Red Notice for Correa, who was self-exiled in Belgium. The court stated it would continue to pursue the extradition of Correa and the other 14 defendants in the case, who were residing abroad.

On May 24, President Lasso issued Decree 4 on Governmental Ethical Behavior Standards that applies to all executive branch members. The decree includes a prohibition on remuneration of any nature to the spouses of the president and vice president; prohibits the nomination of executive branch officials' relatives for other government positions; requires a preemptive declaration of conflicts of interest where they may exist; and prohibits the unofficial use of official aircraft, vehicles, and government property, among others.

Section 5. Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights

A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were often cooperative and responsive to their views.

Government Human Rights Bodies: The Ombudsman's Office is an administratively and financially independent body under the Transparency and Social Control branch of government focused on human rights. The Ombudsman's Office regularly presented cases to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

On August 19, the National Court of Justice ruled against Ombudsman Freddy Carrion's habeas corpus request. Carrion had been in pretrial detention since May 17 for alleged sexual assault. The National Assembly impeached and removed Carrion from office for nonfulfillment of duties on September 14. On October 20, the court found Carrion guilty of sexual abuse and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses

Women

Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape of men or women, including spousal and intimate partner rape and domestic violence. The government enforced the law, although victims were sometimes reluctant to report these crimes. Rape is punishable with penalties of up to 22 years in prison. The law includes spousal rape under crimes against sexual and reproductive integrity. The penalty for rape where death occurred is 22 to 26 years' imprisonment. Domestic violence is punishable with penalties ranging from four days to seven years in prison and a substantial fine for "damages, pain, and suffering," depending on the severity of the crime. Penalties for physical, psychological, and sexual violence were enforced.

The law provides reparation to victims of gender-based violence, while also advocating for the re-education of aggressors. The law defines rape, including spousal rape or incest, forced prostitution, sexual harassment, and other analogous practices, as forms of sexual violence. It also entitles victims to immediate protective measures designed to prevent or cease violence, such as police surveillance, placement in shelters, and awareness programs for the victim and family. These restorative measures were generally enforced.

According to human rights organizations, victims were generally reluctant to press domestic violence charges, and the court system was insufficiently staffed to deal with the caseload. On November 24, the Attorney General's Office, in cooperation with the civil society-UN Spotlight Initiative reported 172 total femicides through November, compared with 118 in 2020 and 106 in 2019. On August 25, the Attorney General's Office announced a 26-year prison sentence for a man from Morona Santiago Province for murdering his four-year-old stepdaughter in August 2020 in front of her mother, whom he threatened to harm if she intervened.

Due to a drop in the number of complaints filed in person with judicial authorities, the government expanded online legal services available to victims in April 2020. Nevertheless, barriers such as digital illiteracy, internet unavailability in rural areas, and lack of general familiarization with these technological resources continued to limit the ability of victims to obtain help.

Judges lacked specialized training for dealing with gender-based violence. Rights organizations also reported local protection-board officials at times discouraged victims from reporting their aggressors.

According to local experts, reporting rapes and other forms of violence continued to be a traumatic process, particularly for female minors. For example, a rape victim must file a complaint at the Public Prosecutor's Office and submit to gynecological evaluations akin to rape kits administered by medical experts. Many individuals did not report cases of rape and sexual assault due to fear of retribution from the perpetrator and social stigma.

On February 10, the Attorney General's Office announced a 12-year, seven-month prison sentence for a police officer in Tungurahua Province for raping a woman in September 2020 (see section 1.c.).

Sexual Harassment: The law criminalizes sexual harassment and provides for penalties of one to five years in prison. The law defines sexual harassment and other analogous practices as forms of sexual violence and mandates that judges prohibit contact between the aggressor and the victim to prevent revictimization and intimidation, and the law was generally enforced. Despite the legal prohibition of sexual harassment and government implementation of the law, women's rights organizations described a tendency not to report alleged harassment, and harassment remained common in public spaces.

Reproductive Rights: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities.

Some women's rights activists complained that a lack of comprehensive sex education limited individuals' ability to manage their reproductive health and that ineffective distribution of birth control reduced access to contraception. Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church's stance against contraceptive use and social stigma discouraged women from seeking family planning services.

A 2019 study found income status affected equity in sexual and reproductive health access and outcomes, with low income and rural individuals having significantly less access. UN agencies and CARE International reported migrant women faced limited access to, discrimination in, or both the provision of reproductive health services.

CARE International observed less access to sexual and reproductive health resources to survivors of sexual violence, and specifically, a lack of availability of emergency contraception as part of the clinical management of rape.

A February 2020 UNICEF-funded and Ministry of Health-supported teenage pregnancy report found that, although live birth rates for women ages 15 to 19 trended downward between 2009 and 2018 (the most recent year available for the report) from 88 live births per 1,000 women to 69), while live birth rates among girls ages 10 to 14 trended slightly upward, from 2.1 per 1,000 in 2007 to 2.8 in 2017. The report found the incidences of girls ages 10 to 14 having children were highest in coastal and Amazonian provinces, including Esmeraldas, Sucumbios, Orellana, and Morona Santiago. On August 17, Secretary of Human Rights Bernarda Ordonez stated 70 percent of girls ages 10 to 14 who become pregnant were most likely sexually violated. Ordonez added that many of these adolescents also suffered from sexually transmitted diseases, urinary tract infections, and other health complications.

Although the country's maternal mortality rate had remained below 70 per 100,000 live births since 2012, media citing official national statistics indicated the rate increased from 37 to 57.6 between 2019 and 2020. According to local health experts, maternal mortality was 36 percent more likely among women in rural areas compared with those in urban areas, and women with primary or less education were three times more likely to suffer maternal death than those with at least a high school education. Further, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian women were 69 and 50 percent more susceptible to maternal death, respectively, than their mestiza counterparts.

While the law prohibits discrimination against girls who become mothers, NGOs reported some faced discrimination and subsequently left school. A lack of resources also resulted in young mothers discontinuing their education to pursue work.

Discrimination: The constitution affords women the same legal status and rights as men. Nevertheless, discrimination against women was prevalent, particularly with respect to economic opportunities for older women and for those in the lower economic strata. Women continued to face wage disparities compared with men. NGOs said women also faced discrimination in housing access and some judicial proceedings, namely, in reporting and filing charges in cases of alleged sexual abuse.

UN agencies and NGOs reported female medical staff were discriminated against and subject to violence, including physical and verbal assaults, from their partners and family members for assisting COVID-19-infected patients. According to information collected by UN Women and CARE International, women outnumbered men in the first line of defense against COVID-19, in a medical field already two-thirds composed of women, making women far more susceptible to COVID-19 exposure.

Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination

The constitution declares the state to be plurinational and affirms the principle of nonviolence and nondiscrimination by recognizing the rights of indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and Montubio (an independent ethnic group of persons with a mixture of Afro-Ecuadorian, indigenous, and Spanish ancestry) communities. It also mandates affirmative action policies to provide for the representation of minorities. NGOs and civil society representatives said those provisions were not effectively enforced.

A 2019 report by the National Council for the Equality of Peoples and Nationalities reiterated that racism and discrimination continued against indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants despite government policies promoting equality. The report reiterated that ethnic minorities continued to struggle with education and job opportunities and often earned less in comparison with their nonindigenous counterparts. Less than 4 percent of the indigenous population entered higher education, according to the most recent census, carried out in 2010. The same agency reported racial minority groups had less access to managerial positions and other professional opportunities.

Afro-Ecuadorian citizens, who accounted for approximately 7 percent of the population according to the 2010 census, suffered pervasive discrimination, particularly regarding educational and economic opportunity. Afro-Ecuadorian organizations noted that, despite the absence of official discrimination, societal discrimination and stereotyping in media continued to result in barriers to employment, education, and housing. A National Gender Survey published in November 2019 found Afro-Ecuadorian women were particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence and harassment based on racial, gender, and sexual stereotypes. Late-night news show host Andres Carrion was criticized in social media as reinforcing negative gender and racial stereotypes after asking Afro-Ecuadorian Olympic gold medal-winning weightlifter Neisi Dajomes in an August 16 interview whether she "knew how to cook," followed by whether she "knew how to wash dishes."

Indigenous Peoples

There were isolated reports of restrictions placed on indigenous persons and their institutions in decisions affecting their property or way of life. Media reported the Pastaza Provincial Court partially accepted a habeas corpus request on July 16 for former Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) president Antonio Vargas Guatatuca. Vargas Guatatuca was originally convicted for land trafficking in 2018, with his sentence extended to three years and four months in 2019, all of which he had served doing community service. He was arrested on June 20 in Pastaza Province after an arrest warrant had been issued a few days prior to serve part of his time in jail. CONAIE argued Vargas Guatatuca's detention was arbitrary and illegal, as international conventions to which Ecuador is a signatory state indigenous persons are subject to prison alternatives. The court ruled Vargas Guatatuca should serve 60 days in jail and 30 in his community, then continue serving out the rest of his sentence doing community service. On November 8, President Lasso issued an executive pardon exonerating Vargas Guatatuca of charges and cancelling the fines ordered in his convictions.

The law provides indigenous persons the same civil and political rights as other citizens. The constitution recognizes Kichwa and Shuar as "official languages of intercultural relations." The constitution grants indigenous persons and communities the right to prior consultation, which is to participate in decisions on the exploitation of nonrenewable resources located on their lands that could affect their culture or environment, although indigenous peoples' organizations noted public- and private-sector actors often ignored prior consultation. The constitution also allows indigenous persons to participate in the economic benefits natural resource extraction projects may bring and to receive compensation for any damages that result.

In the case of environmental damage, the law mandates immediate corrective government action and full restitution from the responsible company, although some indigenous organizations asserted a lack of consultation and remedial action. The law recognizes the rights of indigenous communities to hold property communally, although the titling process remained incomplete in parts of the country. The constitution prohibits mining in urban and protected areas and limits oil drilling in Yasuni National Park.

Although confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths among indigenous communities were lower than the national average, indigenous leaders and international organizations asserted indigenous communities, like other rural low-income communities, were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic's environmental, medical, and economic effects. Precise information on COVID-19 vaccination rates among indigenous persons was not available as of September 18, but government authorities declared they prioritized vaccinating indigenous communities and publicized several instances of vaccine drives in indigenous communities that included military-assisted vaccine transport to remote areas. The government nonetheless faced logistical challenges due to transportable vaccine availability and the physical isolation of some communities.

Media and activist groups reported environmental and anti-illegal mining activist Andres Durazno was stabbed outside his home in Azuay Province on March 17, allegedly by a relative. Activist groups called on the attorney general to open an investigation, which had not begun as of October 28.

Children

Birth Registration: Citizenship is acquired through birth in the country, birth to an Ecuadorian mother or father abroad, or by naturalization. According to media reports, ethnic minority families and those with limited economic resources continued to show registration rates significantly lower than those of other groups. Government brigades occasionally traveled to remote rural areas to register families and persons with disabilities. While the law prohibits schools from requesting civil registration documents for children to enroll, some schools, mostly public schools, continued to require them. Other government services, including welfare payments and free primary health care, require some form of identification.

Education: The lack of schools in some areas specifically affected indigenous and refugee and migrant children, who must travel long distances to attend school.

Child Abuse: The law criminalizes child abuse and provides penalties of 30 days to 26 years in prison, depending on the severity of the abuse.

In 2020 Ana Cristina Vera, director of the local NGO Surkuna, estimated six of 10 rape aggressors were immediate relatives, with most underage victims younger than 14. In 2019 the Office of the Public Prosecutor stated approximately 60 percent of rape victims were children and adolescents.

In 2019 media reported that approximately 16 percent of the 7,977 sex-crime complaints tracked by the Ministry of Education between 2014 and May 2019 were directed against minors. Teachers or school staff were accused as perpetrators in 25 percent of all complaints.

Local NGOs and the government expressed concern regarding child abuse and infanticide during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Quito Rights Protection Council reported 10 suicides and seven cases of infanticide between March and May 2020. The council stated the infanticides in that span were allegedly committed by the victims' immediate family members. Council vice president Sybel Martinez warned that a lack of precise statistics on violence against minors could fuel impunity. The Attorney General's Office publicized progress on several intrafamilial violence cases throughout the year.

Bullying remained a problem in schools and increasingly occurred on social media. On April 10, reforms to the Intercultural Education Law took effect, aiming to prevent and combat digital sexual violence and strengthen the fight against cybercrimes by making online bullying punishable. The law obligates educators to investigate allegations of bullying, considering the victim's best interests. Cases that may lead to school violence (defined as incidents that may lead to death, physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological harm), harassment, or discrimination are prioritized for reporting to higher authorities within 48 hours.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal marriage age is 18. There were reports of early and forced marriage in indigenous communities, particularly in instances in which girls became pregnant following an instance of rape. Indigenous leaders reported cases in which sexual aggressors compensated violence with payment or exchange of animals, but in some cases, victims were forced to marry their aggressors. CARE International reported the government did not respond effectively to these cases, especially in Kichwa and Shuar indigenous communities.

Sexual Exploitation of Children: The age of consent is 14. The law prohibits sexual exploitation of children, including child pornography, with penalties of 22 to 26 years' imprisonment. The penalty for human trafficking, including child sex trafficking, is 13 to 16 years in prison. Authorities did not criminalize all forms of child sex trafficking. The criminal code requires proof of force, fraud, or coercion as essential elements of a trafficking crime, neglecting to recognize that anyone younger than age 18 is unable to provide such consent. Child sex trafficking remained a problem, despite government enforcement efforts.

On May 5, the Pichincha Provincial Court upheld the convictions and maximum prison sentences of 25 years and four months for five members of a criminal ring responsible for trafficking an estimated 100 teenage girls in Quito since at least 2018. The group recruited teenage girls from low-income neighborhoods to attend parties in an affluent Quito neighborhood. The case was related to a February 2020 conviction against one of the same defendants to a 34-year sentence for rape resulting in the death of a 15-year-old girl.

Displaced Children: Humanitarian organizations expressed concern that an increasing number of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children entered via irregular crossings after the government closed its borders in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. International organizations remained concerned unaccompanied children and adolescents were vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking by criminal groups.

International Child Abductions: The country is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. See the Department of State's Annual Report on International Parental Child Abduction at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/International-Parental-Child-Abduction/for-providers/legal-reports-and-data/reported-cases.html .

Anti-Semitism

There is a small Jewish community, including an estimated 450 individuals in Quito, 40 individuals in Guayaquil, and 10 individuals elsewhere in the country. The Jewish community reported no attacks or aggressions as of September 28. Community members said that during the military escalation between Gaza and Israel in May, opinion articles in El Comercio and El Universo newspapers included comments they considered anti-Semitic. Members of the Jewish community condemned the statements, but the government did not comment on the statements.

Trafficking in Persons

See the Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report at https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/ .

Persons with Disabilities

The law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities. The National Council on Disability Equality oversees government policies regarding persons with disabilities.

Although the law mandates access to buildings and promotes equal access to health, education, social security, employment, transport, and communications for persons with disabilities, the government did not fully enforce it. By law children with disabilities could attend specialized schools, but all educational establishments must accommodate students with disabilities. An educational policy NGO said nonspecialized institutions lacked the capacity and staff to accommodate the range of disabilities. The NGO said children with disabilities attended primary school at similar rates to other children, but they attended secondary education at lower rates due to a lack of access to quality support.

The law stipulates persons with disabilities have the right to health facilities and insurance coverage, job security, access and inclusion in education, and a program for scholarships and student loans. The law also requires that 4 percent of employees in all public and private enterprises with more than 25 employees be persons with disabilities, and it gives the Ombudsman's Office responsibility for following up on alleged violations of the rights of persons with disabilities, stipulating a series of fines and punishments for lack of compliance. A March 15 media report noted that the Ministry of Labor recorded a 29 percent increase in job dismissal complaints from persons with disabilities between 2019 and 2020 (652 to 838). More broadly, the number of complaints nearly tripled between 2017 and 2020.

The law directs the electoral authorities to provide access to voting and to facilitate voting for persons with disabilities.

HIV and AIDS Social Stigma

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) activists reported that during the peaks of the COVID-19 pandemic in April and May 2020, officials at public and private hospitals blocked access to retroviral treatment and hormones to LGBTQI+ patients to focus resources on COVID-19 treatment. The sudden unavailability adversely affected LGBTQI+ individuals undergoing medical treatment.

The NGO Fundacion Ecuatoriana Equidad, a sexual health and LGBTQI+ advocacy group, said that despite a Constitutional Court order that the Ministry of Health improve the administration of HIV home treatment regimens for LGBTQI+ individuals and the Ministry of Health's commitment to do so, treatment continued to be inadequate due to perceived poor management by the ministry.

Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

LGBTQI+ groups claimed police and prosecutors did not thoroughly investigate deaths of LGBTQI+ individuals, including when there was suspicion that the killing was motivated by anti-LGBTQI+ bias. On September 3, NGO Silueta X representatives said 14 members of the LGBTQI+ community had been killed in 2020 and seven more as of September 3 (including one alleged forced disappearance by unknown perpetrators). Fundacion Ecuatoriana Equidad cited police and prosecutors' lax attitude and the lack of technical capacity and knowledge about the LGBTQI+ individuals to explain insufficient investigations into crimes committed against LGBTQI+ persons.

Regarding the May 2020 killing of Javier Viteri, on July 7, a municipal court in Arenillas convicted and sentenced the accused person, a military conscript, to 34 years and eight months in prison.

The constitution includes the principle of nondiscrimination and the right to decide one's sexual orientation. The law also prohibits hate crimes, but LGBTQI+ activists asserted that since the legal codification of hate crimes in 2008, there had been no hate crime convictions for crimes directed at LGBTQI+ persons. Although the law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, LGBTQI+ persons continued to suffer discrimination from both public and private entities, particularly in education, employment, and access to health care. LGBTQI+ organizations reported transgender persons suffered more discrimination because they were more visible.

LGBTQI+ persons continued to report that the government sometimes denied their right of equal access to formal education. Despite the publication of a "Guide to Prevent and Combat Discrimination Based on Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity" by the Ministry of Education in 2019, Fundacion Ecuatoriana Equidad indicated the government had not comprehensively applied the guide's provisions and not adapted relevant regulations to implement the guide. LGBTQI+ students, particularly transgender students, sometimes were discouraged from attending classes and were more susceptible to bullying in schools. Human rights activists argued the Ministry of Education and school administrators were slow to respond to complaints regarding overall harassment, discrimination, or abuse, particularly against LGBTQI+ persons. LGBTQI+ persons involved in the commercial sex trade reported abusive situations, extortion, and mistreatment by security forces.

The law prohibits changing gender on identity documents for LGBTQI+ persons younger than 18, even with parental consent. In 2019 an LGBTQI+ NGO reported a transgender minor was denied enrollment at 15 schools under her chosen name and gender in 2017. The minor's parents subsequently filed a lawsuit requesting that officials allow her to change her name and gender on identity documents to end discrimination against her. In 2018 the Office of the Civil Registry allowed changes on her identity card. Fundacion Ecuatoriana Equidad reported the parents then filed an inquiry with the Constitutional Court to determine the age transgender underage individuals may change their identity information. A court decision on the inquiry remained pending as of September 28.

An LGBTQI+ organization reported the existence of clandestine private treatment centers confining LGBTQI+ persons against their will to "cure" or "dehomosexualize" them despite the illegality of such treatment. According to the organization, the Ministry of Public Health had some success in identifying and closing such institutions. Alternatively, LGBTQI+ organizations said relatives also took LGBTQI+ persons to neighboring countries, where clinics reportedly used violent treatments, including rape, to change LGBTQI+ persons' sexual orientation.

Section 7. Worker Rights

a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining

The law, with some exceptions, provides for the rights of workers to form and join trade unions of their choice, bargain collectively, and conduct legal strikes. The law prohibits the dismissal of union members from the moment a union notifies the labor inspector of its general assembly until the formation of its first executive board, the first legal steps in forming a union. Employers are not required to reinstate workers fired for union activity but are required to pay compensation and fines to such workers. According to an October 17 El Comercio article, 3 percent of the total workforce was unionized, with the number of public and private unions registered by the Ministry of Labor decreasing by half since 2017. Labor unions and associations reported difficulties in registering unions in the Ministry of Labor due to excessive requirements and ministry staff shortages.

Companies that dismiss employees attempting to form a union or that dismiss union members exercising their rights face a fine of one year's annual salary for everyone wrongfully dismissed. Individual workers still employed may take complaints against employers to the Labor Inspection Office. Individuals no longer employed may take their complaints to courts charged with protecting labor rights. Unions may also take complaints to a tripartite arbitration board established to hear these complaints. Despite the promise of receiving a mediator within 48 hours of issuing a complaint, these procedures often were subject to lengthy delays because the Ministry of Labor continued to be nonspecialized and understaffed to address all arbitration requests and appeals. Private-sector representatives alleged that boards exhibited conscious bias in favor of employees when they did convene.

All private employers with unionized employees are required to negotiate collectively when the union so requests. The law requires a minimum of 30 workers for the creation of an association, work committee, or labor union, and it does not allow foreign citizens to serve as trade union officers. In 2018 the Ministry of Labor authorized, through ministerial resolutions, eight new types of labor contracts, with specific provisions for the flower, palm, fishing, livestock, and construction sectors.

In May a provincial court ordered that the Ministry of Labor recognize the Trade Union Association of Agricultural Banana Workers and Peasants as a sector-wide union for banana workers and assigned monitoring to the Ombudsman's Office. This decision followed recent requests by the International Labor Organization (ILO) to permit sector-wide union organizing in compliance with international labor standards. In September the Ombudsman's Office submitted a report finding that the Ministry of Labor had not complied with the court order. Instead of appealing the decision, the ministry filed an extraordinary action for protection against the provincial court judges seeking the protection of the Constitutional Court for having to enforce the order. The Constitutional Court accepted the writ in September. The ministry had not complied with the court order as of October 28.

The law provides for the right of private-sector employees to strike on their own behalf and conduct three-day solidarity strikes or boycotts on the behalf of other industries. The law also establishes, however, that all collective labor disputes be referred to courts of conciliation and arbitration.

In most industries the law requires a 10-day "cooling-off" period from the time a strike is declared before it can take effect. In the case of the agriculture and hospitality industries, where workers are needed for "permanent care," the law requires a 20-day "cooling-off" period from the day the strike is called, and workers may not take possession of a workplace. During this time workers and employers must agree on how many workers are needed to ensure a minimum level of service, and at least 20 percent of the workforce must continue to work to provide essential services. The law provides the employer may contract substitute personnel only when striking workers refuse to send the number of workers required to provide the minimum necessary services. Contracting substitute personnel is effectively impossible, however, as the law does not provide for time-limited, seasonal, hourly, or part-time contracts.

The law prohibits formation of unions and restricts the right to collective bargaining and striking of public-sector workers in "strategic sectors." Such sectors include workers in the health, environmental sanitation, education, justice, firefighting, social security, electrical energy, drinking water and sewage, hydrocarbon production, fuel processing, transport and distribution, public transportation, and postal service and telecommunications sectors. Some of the sectors defined as strategic exceed the ILO standard for essential services. Workers in these sectors attempting to strike may face charges with penalties of two to five years' imprisonment. The government effectively enforced the law on "strategic sectors."

All unions in the public sector fall under the Confederation of Public Servants. Although most public-sector workers also maintained membership in labor-sector associations, the law does not allow such associations to bargain collectively or to strike. The law specifies that only the private sector may engage in collective bargaining.

Several unions, labor associations, and media outlets denounced the presence of military vehicles and alleged police harassment during strikes by employees of local explosives company Explocen since July 2020. The strike started after five employees allegedly were dismissed in June 2020 without due compensation. The military deployed vehicles to guard the entrance to Explocen's facilities when the strike started, and officials stated the military presence was necessary because of the national state of emergency (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and highly dangerous nature of the materials stored and processed at the facility. Employees' attorneys and unions denounced the protest's "militarization." On March 24, the strike and military presence ended when Explocen reached an agreement with workers. The Ombudsman's Office and the Ministry of Labor supported the negotiations.

The government did not effectively enforce all applicable laws, but penalties were commensurate with those for other laws involving denial of civil rights, such as discrimination. Employers did not always respect freedom of association and collective bargaining, and labor rights advocacy groups said that influential business interests tied to local officials sometimes used criminal proceedings to restrict workers' right to unionize. Independent unions often had strong ties to political movements.

b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor, including all forms of labor exploitation; child labor; illegal adoption; servile marriage; and the sale of tissues, fluids, and genetic materials of living persons. Penalties were commensurate with those for other analogous serious crimes, such as kidnapping.

The government did not effectively enforce the law. Limited resources, limited presence in parts of the country, and inadequate victim services hampered the effectiveness of police and prosecutors, trends that NGOs reported the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened. NGOs and media outlets continued to report that children were victims of human trafficking in forced criminality, particularly drug trafficking and robbery.

Reports of forced labor of children (see section 7.c.) and women persisted. Observers most frequently reported women as victims of domestic servitude. In 2020 police detained 22 suspected traffickers. Authorities prosecuted eight individuals in seven trafficking cases and convicted and sentenced eight traffickers. In 2020 the government identified 140 victims of human trafficking and aided 126.

Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorians, Venezuelan migrants, and Colombian refugees (see section 7.d.) were particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Traffickers often recruited children from impoverished indigenous families under false promises of employment; these children were then forced to beg or to work as domestic servants, in sweatshops, or as street and commercial vendors within the country or in other South American countries. Ecuadorian men, women, and children were exploited in forced labor within the country's borders, including in domestic servitude; forced begging; on banana, hemp, and palm plantations; street vending; mining; and other areas of the informal economy. According to the government, COVID-19 lockdown measures further pushed trafficking underground to occur on private properties, and in some cases even in mines or hidden locations near the country's borders.

Men, women, and children were exploited in forced labor abroad, including in the United States and other South American countries, particularly Chile and Colombia. Traffickers used the country as a transit route for trafficking victims from Colombia, Venezuela, and the Caribbean to other South American countries and Europe.

Also see the Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report at https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/ .

c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment

The law prohibits the worst forms of child labor. It sets the minimum working age for minors at 15 for all types of labor and the maximum hours a minor may work at six hours per day, five days per week. The law requires employers of minors who have not completed elementary school to give them two additional hours off from work to complete studies. The law requires employers to pay minors the same wages received by adults for the same type of employment and prohibits minors younger than age 18 from working in "dangerous and unhealthy" conditions. A 2015 ministerial accord lists 27 economic activities that qualify as dangerous and unhealthy. Other illegal activities, including slavery, prostitution, pornography, and drug trafficking, are punishable. The law identifies work that is "likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of a child," which includes work in mines, garbage dumps, slaughterhouses, livestock, fishing, textiles, logging, and domestic service, as well as in any work environment requiring exposure to toxic or dangerous substances, dust, dangerous machinery, or loud noises.

The law establishes penalties for violations of child labor laws, including fines and closure of the business. Penalties were not commensurate with those for other analogous serious crimes, such as kidnapping. If an employer commits a second child labor violation, inspectors may close the business temporarily. The law authorizes labor inspectors to conduct inspections at factories, workshops, and any other location when they consider it appropriate or when an employer or worker requests an inspection.

The government did not effectively enforce the law. The Ministries of Labor and of Economic and Social Inclusion, Rights Protection Boards, and the Minors' Tribunals are responsible for enforcing child labor laws.

A 2019 report by the governmental Intergenerational Equality Council indicated the provinces of Bolivar, Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi had the highest child labor rates for children between the ages of five and 14. Although the government conducted two surveys in 2017 that included some information on child labor, it had not conducted a nationwide child labor survey since 2012. Government, union, and civil society officials agreed that a lack of updated statistics hampered child labor eradication efforts.

Several labor organizations and NGOs reported that no reliable data concerning child labor in the formal employment sectors was available due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to these groups, even before the pandemic, the government-led austerity measures affected the Ministry of Labor's child labor eradication program, and thus the number of government inspections decreased.

The government also did not effectively enforce child labor laws in the informal sector. Observers noted the COVID-19 pandemic most likely increased child labor in the informal sector, as NGO surveys and studies found an increase in children supporting family-run businesses who otherwise would attend school. The worsening national economic situation and nationwide school closures triggered by the pandemic further exacerbated this trend. The most common informal economic activity was cooking meals and selling them on the streets or delivering them to customers. According to CARE International, children in rural areas were most likely found working in family-owned farms or businesses, including banana and rose farms. Children were also subjected to gold mining and the production of bricks.

As COVID-19-induced nationwide school closures continued, some parents continued to take their children to agricultural fields while the parents worked. Labor organizations reported children were largely removed from the most heavy and dangerous work. For students who could not attend virtual classes due to internet connectivity problems, some communities organized community centers so these children could continue remote learning. Many children younger than 15 in urban areas worked informally to support themselves or to augment family income by peddling on the street, shining shoes, sorting garbage, or begging. According to the NGO Partners of the Americas, city governments took some children who worked on the street to attention centers where internet connections and computers provided an opportunity to resume online learning often unavailable in the home.

Local civil society organizations reported that children conducted domestic work, including paid household work. A July 2020 study by CARE International found that during the pandemic many female house cleaners took their children, mostly girls, to their place of employment to help with the mother's household tasks, likely increasing child labor in domestic environments.

Also see the Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labo r at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings .

d. Discrimination with Respect to Employment and Occupation

The law and regulations prohibit discrimination regarding race, sex, gender, disability, language, sexual orientation or gender identity, HIV-positive status or other communicable diseases, or social status. The law prohibits employers from using discriminatory criteria in hiring, discriminating against unions, and retaliating against striking workers and their leaders. The government did not effectively enforce those laws and regulations, but penalties were commensurate with laws related to civil rights, such as election interference. An NGO reported that Ministry of Labor representatives were frequently unprepared for administrative cases regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity due to a lack of familiarity with LGBTQI+ issues.

Employment discrimination against women was prevalent, particularly with respect to economic opportunities for older women and for those in the lower economic strata. A study of average salary statistics reported in media on August 25 found that the average pay gap between men and women widened between February and July. While men's reported average monthly salary increased from $301 to $350 (or 16 percent), women's salary decreased from $259 to $248 (or 4 percent) in that span. Reasons the article cited for this reduction in average pay for women were reduced labor opportunities and workhour reductions, as women disproportionately worked in sectors (lodging, food service, and manufacturing) most adversely affected by the COVID-19-induced economic slowdown.

The National Institute for Statistics and Census (INEC) announced the unemployment rate in July was 7.1 percent for women and 3.8 percent for men, compared with 15.7 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively, in June 2020.

Afro-Ecuadorians continued to demand more opportunities in the workforce and complained that employers often profiled them based on their job application photographs and racial stereotypes. At the conclusion of a December 2019 official country visit, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent expressed concern about reports of impunity and also human rights abuses and violations against farm workers, the majority of whom were Afro-descendants, at banana plantations owned by Japanese subsidiary company Furukawa Plantations C.A. The Working Group was also concerned by "the lack of access to justice for people of African descent" seeking reparations for injuries doing agricultural work and welcomed the Constitutional Court's commitment to address the backlog of labor cases against agricultural employers. NGOs and labor leaders continued to note significant delays in processing these cases. Indigenous and LGBTQI+ individuals as well as persons with disabilities also experienced employment discrimination.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

Wage and Hour Laws: The law provides for a minimum monthly wage, which was above the poverty income level.

The law limits the standard work period to 40 hours a week, eight hours a day, with two consecutive days of rest per week. Miners are limited to six hours a day and may only work one additional hour a day with premium pay. Premium pay is 1.5 times the basic salary for work done from 6 a.m. to midnight. Work done from midnight to 6 a.m. receives twice the basic salary, although workers whose standard shift is at night receive a premium of 25 percent instead. Premium pay also applies to work on weekends and holidays. Overtime is limited to no more than four hours a day and a total of 12 hours a week. Mandatory overtime is prohibited. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcement of wage and hour laws. Inspectors have the authority to make unannounced inspections. The ministry issues fines for wage and hour law violations. The government did not effectively enforce minimum wage and overtime laws, but penalties were commensurate with those for similar crimes, such as fraud.

Workers are entitled to a continuous 15-day annual vacation, including weekends, plus one extra day per year after five years of service. Different regulations regarding schedule and vacations apply to live-in domestic workers. The law mandates prison terms for employers who do not comply with the requirement of registering domestic workers with the Social Security Administration. INEC data showed the "adequate employment" rate - the proportion of the population working at least 40 hours per week and earning at or above the minimum salary of $400 per month - was at 33.5 percent through September, and the "underemployment rate" was at 22.7 percent.

A June 2020 law addressing COVID-19's impact allows employers and employees to enter into force majeure agreements, although the dismissal of an employee is permitted only if the business ceased operations permanently. The law also permits employers to reduce working hours and salaries by up to 50 and 45 percent, respectively, by signing "emergency contracts" with their employees to prevent job losses. Citing government figures, media reported that as of April 20 companies had enrolled 81,309 workers under "emergency contracts," with most of them being in the agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, and trade industries. Unions and labor organizations stated the law enabled precarious work conditions, reduced wages below the minimum wage, and allowed unfair dismissals without due compensation because of employers' leverage over employees desperate to keep their jobs during the COVID-19 economic slowdown. Labor unions filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court in June challenging the provisions in the June 2020 law. A ruling by the Constitutional Court remained pending as of October 25.

Labor leaders and NGOs said there were no specific sectors with a concentration of alleged violations of wage, hour, or overtime laws. They reported the number of complaints against public and private companies in the service, tourism, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors, however, were rising because of perceived unfair dismissals mostly under "emergency contracts" as provided in the June 2020 law. They said that women and young workers were sometimes vulnerable to wage exploitation in the informal sector, and that domestic and service-sector workers sometimes had to accept less convenient conditions on hours worked, especially in the context of customer capacity and operating hour restrictions due to COVID-19. Efforts to combat forced labor were deficient. The government did not have labor inspectors solely dedicated to identifying forced labor, although they were trained to do so. The government's 159 total reported labor inspectors through November 8 were below ILO standards for the country's population and labor force size.

The June 2020 law facilitates and encourages teleworking options, including a worker's right to "disconnect" from work duties for a minimum of 12 continuous hours in a 24-hour period. Ministry of Labor data through July 29 indicated more than 457,000 persons in the public and private sectors worked remotely.

Occupational Safety and Health: The law provides for the health and safety of workers and outlines occupational safety and health (OSH) standards, which are current and appropriate for the country's main industries. These regulations and standards were not applied in the informal sector, which employed approximately 50 percent of the working population as of June. The number of inspectors was insufficient, and the government did not effectively enforce OSH laws.

Authorities may conduct labor inspections by appointment or after a worker complaint. If a worker requests an inspection and a Ministry of Labor inspector confirms a workplace hazard, the inspector then may close the workplace. Labor inspections generally occurred because of complaints, not as a preventive measure; inspectors could make unannounced visits. The COVID-19 pandemic impeded in situ inspections due to social distancing measures and budgetary constraints at the Ministry of Labor. In some cases violations were remedied, but other cases were subjected to legal challenges that delayed changes for months. Penalties were not sufficient to deter violations and were often not enforced.

Some unions and labor associations alleged public- and private-sector employers sometimes failed to enforce biosecurity protocols and provide adequate protective equipment to prevent COVID-19 contagion.

The Ministry of Labor continued its enforcement reforms by increasing the number of workers protected by contracts, minimum wage standards, and registration for social security benefits.

Workers in the formal sector could generally remove themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their employment, and authorities effectively protected employees in this situation. Labor representatives said that COVID-19 complicated these protections, however, as employees and their employers sometimes had a conflicting sense on the degree of risk involved in presenting themselves for work and the extent of protective measures at the workplace, while employees feared losing employment in an economic downturn.

On July 9, the Labor Ministry issued guidelines for the progressive return to work activities in the public and private sectors. The guidelines did not consider recent COVID-19 exposure or previous infection as justifiable cause for not returning to in-person work and included fines for noncompliance. On July 18, the National Federation of Public Servants expressed concern with the guidelines, arguing they prevented public-sector employees' safe, progressive return to work. On July 22, the Pichincha Medical Association requested the city of Quito to postpone the official return to in-person work due to concerns regarding the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant in the capital, but the request was denied. COVID-19 infection rates declined in August due in large part to higher vaccination rates among the population.

Informal Sector: Most workers worked in the large informal sector and in rural areas. These workers received far fewer labor protections and were less likely to be able to remove themselves from dangerous health or safety situations without jeopardy to their employment. Informal sector workers were not covered by minimum wage laws or legally mandated benefits. OSH problems were more prevalent in the informal sector. The law singles out the health and safety of miners, but the government did not enforce safety rules in informal, often illegal, small-scale mines (frequently linked to local community leaders and organized crime), which made up the vast majority of enterprises in the mining sector. Migrants and refugees were particularly vulnerable to hazardous and exploitative working conditions. According to media and labor associations, local organizations reported complaints of Venezuelans receiving below the minimum wage, particularly in the informal sector.

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Ecuador - United States Department of State

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Ecuador is a constitutional, multiparty republic with an elected president and unicameral legislature. On April 11, voters elected President Guillermo Lasso Mendoza from a center-right alliance among the Creating Opportunities Movement and the Social Christian Party and selected members of the National Assembly in elections that observers deemed free and fair.

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Concern about Chinese illegal fishing in Uruguay

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Concern about Chinese illegal fishing in Uruguay

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The capital's dock is one of the favorites of foreign fleets, made up mainly of Chinese vessels, which operate irregularly, putting the ecosystem life

In the image, the Port of Montevideo. EFE/Federico Anfitti/Archive

The presence of the Chinese ship Lu Rong Yuan Yu 606 days ago in the Port of Montevideo alerted the environmental groups that demand a substantive solution to the problem of foreign illegal fishing.

According to El Obervador, thanks to timely monitoring real it was possible to detect that the Chinese ship Lu Rong Yuan Yu 606 was on the Uruguayan coast near the port of Montevideo since at least last Thursday, October 6. It is the same ship that was captured by the Navy on July 3 after it did not comply with the "order to stop".

The Chinese vessel Lu Rong Yuan Yu 606 in the July episode past (Photo: Uruguayan National Navy)

Consulted by the Uruguayan media, from the Uruguayan Navy they did not deny the presence of Lu Rong Yuan Yu 606 but pointed out that the Chinese ship was not breaking the law. It is that the ships that were detained by the Navy can return to the Port of Montevideo without any problem due to the existing legal vacuum in terms of laws that prevent it.

The most worrying thing, environmentalists warn, is the lack of infrastructure for inspections of the hundreds of Chinese-flagged vessels that are considered illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing activities.

< p class="paragraph">The Port of Montevideo is one of the favorites of foreign fishing fleets, made up mainly of Chinese vessels, which engage in illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities. This type of crime is considered one of the most important threats on the seas, even displacing piracy.

Crew members of a Chinese fishing vessel who landed in the Port of Montevideo, in Uruguay.

Montevideo is one of the top 15 ports in the world based on the size of the holds of the foreign fishing vessels that dock there. The Uruguayan port serves as a hub for landing, transshipment, processing, and re-export. It is one of the three ports that are in this category along with the port of Manta in Ecuador and Callao in Peru, according to a 2019 scientific investigation that analyzed the activity of ships and the risk that the fish caught by IUU fishing pass through the most important fishing ports in the world.

The problem that several experts have identified is not that Uruguay receives foreign vessels, since that port by regulation international can do it, but the authorities do not properly supervise these ships and that they even receive ships with dark histories.

In accordance with the Latin American Agreement on control of ships by the Port State or Viña del Mar Agreement, signed in 2015 by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, the maritime authorities of these countries must carry out an effective control to guarantee "without discrimination in terms of flag, that foreign ships that visit the ports of their State comply with the standards established in international instruments."

However, the Montevideo port authorities have been accused of not complying with these supervisions. The specialist in marine conservation and expert in illegal fishing in Latin America, Milko Schvartzman, in an interview with Infobae, assured that in 2019, Uruguayan authorities supervised 33 of the 320 vessels that docked at the port and "of that 10% that were inspected, only one was Chinese-flagged. Although the majority are Chinese vessels, the Uruguayan government inspected only one and none of the vessels were sanctioned."

" I have seen them myself, I have taken photos. It is as if a vehicle travels without a license plate", Schvartzman revealed. "These are vessels that do not have life jackets, fire extinguishers, no minimum security measures that meet international standards."

Suspicion of illegal transshipment within the EEZ of Uruguay. (Courtesy of Milko Schvartzman).

The agency that authorizes the entry of these ships to the port of Montevideo is the Dinara. The shipping companies that want to enter must present certain documentation, from the name or distinctive sign of the vessel to what they caught; and it is verified that they do not appear on illegal lists.

"There are more than 320 undeclared unregulated vessels" that dock in the port of Montevideo. "Only about cargo we are talking between 500 million and 1 billion dollars," Schvartzman told El Observador.

A 2018 report by the Healthy Oceans organization stated that "the Port of Montevideo is listed as the second in the world to receive transshipment fishing suspected of being IUU".

A presentation on the fishing situation in Uruguay, made by Uruguayan senator Gustavo Penadés,in 2021, he assured that it is false that "Montevideo is the second port in the world in illegal fishing discharge." However, he confirmed that in 2015, the port of Montevideo was the second most visited port in the world by reefer vessels (vessels that function as large freezers where the fishing of other ships is stored) and that In 2019, 284 foreign fishing boats and 21 reefers entered the port of Montevideo.

That port was the second in the world to receive reefers raises suspicions in line with criticism from environmental organizations. L he reefers welcome the catch of other boats. Many times these transshipments take place on the high seas. In 2015, there were 1,500 unloadings in Montevideo, more than half of which were from ships that transhipped on the high seas.

According to Insight Crime, " transshipment encourages IUU fishing" through the use of these reefers, as they not only receive the fish caught but also supply supplies to the fishing fleets. The platform specialized in security indicates that "Distant water fishing fleets use the transshipment system to fish for entire months outside the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the countries."

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), transshipment on the high seas is used to cover up activities such as illegal fishing, drug trafficking, arms trafficking and trafficking of people.

Chinese fishing vessel detained in Uruguay for alleged illegal fishing
The dead crew members arriving in Montevideo
In 2014, a group of 28 Africans disembarked from a Chinese ship in Montevideo and refused to return to the ship. The workers denounced that they had not received their salary, that they ate a plate of rice a day, that they worked in chains and that they were beaten. Some even had tuberculosis. The Healthy Oceans organization has denounced slave labor, trafficking and death in the port of Montevideo.

The latest Report on Trafficking in Persons in Uruguay from the United States Department of State, published in in 2021, found that between 2018 and 2020, there were 17 deaths of crew members of Chinese-flagged fishing vessels and other countries that docked in the port of Montevideo and in Uruguayan waters. The document indicates that, prior to 2018, observers reported an average of 11 crewmember deaths per year, on average 1 crewmember killed per month.

According to the state department from the United States s, foreign workers aboard these ships are subject to abuses indicative of forced labor, including unpaid wages, confiscated identification documents, and physical abuse. There are even anecdotal reports of murders at sea. The trafficking report also indicates that citizens of other countries, including China and the Dominican Republic, may transit through Uruguay en route to other destinations, particularly Argentina, where some are exploited.

Andrés Milessi, biologist and coordinator of the One Sea Project in Uruguay, spoke with Infobae and explained that foreign vessels "use the port of Montevideo to unload when they do not transship in international waters or for repairs or in some cases even for disembark deceased. Milessi indicated that when the vessels request authorization to enter the port, an inspection protocol is generated. "We know that this situation has improved in recent times and (as an NGO) we are working together with the Uruguayan government to perfect the protocols,"

Uruguayan investigative journalist Sabina Goldaracena , agrees with Milessi that Chinese fishing vessels enter the port of Montevideo, to repair their boats, to seek medical attention or to disembark the deceased.
Biodiversity in danger
According to Pew, since the late 1990s and early 2000s, The port of Montevideo began to be described by experts in fisheries crime as a "port of convenience", used by illegal vessels to unload Patagonian toothfish that had been caught illegally in the Southwest Atlantic.

< p class="paragraph">For example, the highest risks for IUU fishing for squid jiggers were recorded on Chinese-flagged vessels using the port of Chimbote, Peru (3%), Callao, Peru (3%), and Montevideo, Uruguay (2 %), and South Korean ships whose ships use the port of Montevideo, Uruguay (2%), according to an academic study published in April this year in the journal Nature Communications.

The overexploitation of bioaquatic resources, explained Milessi for Infobae, in addition to climate change, has caused that Hake populations, the main fishing resource of Uruguay and Argentina, have decreased or that the specimens are becoming smaller or immature.

In the case of distant water vessels, researchers find an obstacle when carrying out their studies, since these fleets do not declare their catches, so, according to Milessi, they work based on estimates to know the status of the species.

But not only hake would be in danger. A Greenpeace report on the impact of overfishing in the Southwest Atlantic in 2019 warns about the threats of overfishing in the Blue Hole, located 1,333 kilometers (720 nautical miles) south of Montevideo. In this space there are "unique ecosystems and iconic fauna, such as the southern right whale, and other species classified as vulnerable, such as the sperm whale."

According to Greenpeace , the Blue Hole is one of the areas of international waters most exploited by "ships that sweep the seabed and indiscriminately destroy marine life". The study notes that foreign fishing vessels "operating in the Blue Hole are virtually unregulated, making the Blue Hole a Wild West exploited primarily by fishing vessels from mainland China, Korea, Taiwan, and Spain."

The overexploitation of fish stocks not only affects the balance of the maritime ecosystem but also puts local fishing at risk. According to the Uruguayan senator Gustavo Penadés, "the (fishing) sector has experienced a continuous decline in the last 20 years and today its survival is in a difficult situation, which threatens thousands of jobs."

The Western South Atlantic area shared by Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil is one of the only areas of international waters where there is no regional fisheries management organization (RFMO). RFMOs, according to Global Fishing Watch, manage fishing beyond national jurisdictions, that is, they supervise fishing activity on the high seas.

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Illegal fishing: alert in Uruguay due to the presence of a Chinese vessel in the Port of Montevideo - The Gal Times

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The capital's dock is one of the favorites of foreign fleets, made up mainly of Chinese vessels, which operate irregularly, putting the ecosystem life In the image, the Port of Montevideo. EFE/Federico Anfitti/Archive The presence of the Chinese ship Lu Rong Yuan Yu 606 days ago in the Port of Montevideoalerted the environmental groups that [...]