top
Ecuador’s fishing laws are aging and carrying a burden of unresolved issues. Enacted in 1974, the legal framework lacks relevant provisions on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, a point highlighted by European Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius. Although Ecuador pledged in 2015 to curb irregular activities and began updating its laws to align with international standards, it did not follow through with action beyond promises.
The fleet’s serious control problems did not stop the entry into effect of a bilateral trade agreement with the European Union. The Accession Protocol guarantees immediate access to 99.7% of agricultural products and 100% of industrial and fishery products from Ecuador at zero tariffs, as emphasized by Juan Carlos Cassinelli, who was the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister at the time. It opened a fast track for Ecuadorian fish and preserved products. Two years later, the country faced a yellow card for shortcomings in fisheries control.
There are other nations in a similar position, creating a paradox: Brussels is shrinking its own fishing fleet while allowing a large number of products from sanctioned countries to enter. So far, the ships that drew attention included Ecuador, Panama, Ghana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Liberia, Vietnam, and Cameroon. In 2021 alone, they moved fish and canned goods valued at more than €2,300 million, already rebounding from the pre‑COVID transport lull.
Meanwhile, Brussels has recently pushed a rule that threatens the viability of more than 200 Galician fishing vessels, with a knock-on effect on two out of ten operating boats. Without adequate scientific reports, socioeconomic impact assessments, and in areas that do not reach 400 meters in depth, the veto on bottom fishing will begin on 9 October. This normative move, taken in the midst of a European conflict and as Fisheries Minister Luis Planas noted, underscored the strategic importance of fishing in European food sovereignty and the subtle influence of regional rivals such as Turkey.
top
Ecuador has historically been a major supplier of fish to Europe, particularly through Spain, with more than €350 million exported last year and growth of about 50% annually. France and Italy follow as primary buyers of marine protein products. Before the pandemic, Ecuador exported about €4,200 million annually; now that figure is approaching €4,700 million.
That growth is modest when compared with Panama, which issues about €100 million in invoices to the European market each year. It surged by roughly 80% in a single year thanks to sales in Spain, Italy, and Denmark. Data from the Ministry of Commerce show that Ghana and Cameroon now account for a notable portion of Europe’s turnover in this sector, while Vietnam has suffered a marked decline in recent years, down from a high point in 2021 at €802 million.
Similar to Ecuador, Panama faced a yellow card in 2019. It now sits closer to a red card—a formal ban on fish exports to the European Union—than to restaying a previously clean status. It remains urgent to close gaps in the system to curb IUU fishing. It has been more than two years since Panama was identified as a non‑cooperating country, and much work remains, according to the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs. The concerns emphasize a broader push to strengthen global fisheries governance and improve transparency in each nation’s reporting and control practices.
Russia presents a different scenario. Its foreign sales continue to generate hard currency for the regime of Vladimir Putin. In the first half of this year, fish exports to the EU were about 50% higher than the same period last year and nearly reached a historical peak of around €530 million. Russian‑flagged fishing vessels have not lost access to EU ports, highlighting ongoing tensions between market access and geopolitical risk in fisheries trade.