Four South American countries join forces to combat illegal fishing by Chinese fleets

Four South American countries joined forces on Wednesday in a bid to combat illegal fishing by huge Chinese fleets off their coasts.

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru threatened measures “to prevent, discourage and jointly confront” illegal fishing near their exclusive economic zones in the Pacific.

The joint statement made no specific mention of China but environmental groups Greenpeace and Oceana have repeatedly warned of the growing presence of massive Chinese fishing fleets in the area.

The South American quartet said they would boost “cooperation and real-time exchange of information” to highlight illegal fishing off their coasts.

Ecuador in July complained to China over a massive 300-trawler fishing fleet off Galapagos, saying around half of them had turned off their tracking systems so they could not be located.

Beijing in early August banned its vessels from fishing near the Galapagos from September to November this year.