There is little chance of returning to the green card in the remainder of the year, despite the efforts of the Noboa Government.
2024 is coming to an end and the Ecuadorian fishing sector sees it as highly unlikely that it will be able to get out of the yellow card imposed by the European Union (EU) in the remainder of the year, and sets its expectations on 2025 to be able to get out of that status in which the country has been since 2019. This was stated by Bruno Leone, president of the National Chamber of Fisheries (CNP).
Leone's comments come after a meeting with the Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, Luis Alberto Jaramillo, in which they discussed the situation of Ecuador with the yellow card imposed by the EU as a warning for considering it a non-cooperative country in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The meeting between Jaramillo and Leone took place after the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Ivanova Cereceda, returned from a tour of Europe where they met with authorities in Brussels (EU headquarters) to manage the lifting of the sanction. Jaramillo held meetings with Charlina Vitcheva, head of the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission (DG Mare), and with Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, who is also Commissioner for Oceans and Fisheries and the next Commissioner for Trade. However, the sanction was not lifted.
After meeting with Šefčovič on November 28, Jaramillo posted on his official X account (formerly Twitter) that “control and sanction actions aimed at achieving the lifting of the yellow card imposed on Ecuador must be constant,” but did not give further details.
For his part, Leone said that Ecuador hopes to "get out of this soon." He revealed that there are only a few details left to comply with all the requests made by the EU.
"Some ships are missing a survey and there is still something to be done about procedures in the event of possible violations," said the head of the CNP.
Meanwhile, among the advances that Ecuador has achieved in these five years to get out of the yellow card is the creation of a new law that replaced the Fisheries Development Law, which had been in force since 1974 and did not meet the requirements demanded by the Europeans, while the current law meets the current demands of the fight against illegal fishing and the development of control of the traceability of fishery products.
From January to October, Ecuador exported US$ 782 million worth of canned tuna to the European market, with a 36% growth in foreign currency and 44% in export volume, according to the latest figures from the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE).
