Attacks on boats, robberies in shrimp production pools and extortion of companies are increasingly common. Until August, there were 64 criminal acts against the sector.
An employee places food in an automatic dispenser in a production pond of a shrimp farm, in Taura, Ecuador, on July 31, 2023.
Thefts in breeding pools and attacks by hooded men with rifles at sea. Ecuador, the world’s leading shrimp exporter, produces the crustacean amid a wave of violence that leaves workers dead and injured.
The Ecuadorian industry puts one in every five shrimp on tables around the planet. In 2022, “pink gold” exports represented a record of USD 7,289 million, 22% of total sales abroad, according to official figures.
For the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), which brings together 4,000 shrimp producers and exporters, the sector faces two threats:
- Attacks on boats transporting the crustacean in the Gulf of Guayaquil.
- Thefts in captive production pools.
The traffickers then sell the shrimp in popular markets or to traders who try to introduce it into the export chain.
Between January and August of this year, 64 criminal acts have been recorded against the sector, such as robberies with violence on the high seas and on roads, leaving more than 50 victims, including two dead, according to CNA.
Risk points
“When we go out to leave the merchandise on land, we work defensively and locate the risk points where we can be attacked,” says a community member from Puná, on the island of the same name, one of the eight in the Gulf dedicated to shrimp.
He speaks with fear and without giving further details about the last attack he witnessed in the open sea, in April 2023.
“The Navy patrols but does not dare to enter near the shrimp farms.” adds the 51-year-old man, of whom he has worked in the industry for 25 years.
The president of the CNA, José Antonio Camposano, maintains that the attacks occur in the same “places as always,” denounced “as red zones.”
With radars and its own technology, the entity has warned the police of risky spots. Among them, Puerto Roma (in the Gulf), the Jambelí archipelago (further south) and two strategic routes on the Coast, which serve to transport the product to the packing plants.
April, for example, was a disastrous month: one day apart, there were two attacks that left seven injured.
“We continue to be victims, daily, of a crime that is better armed than the police,” adds Camposano.
In addition, the leader denounces a ” total absence of public force ” in areas that are “no man’s land,” according to a statement.
Shrimp farm owners, who speak confidentially for fear of reprisals, point out the existence of mafias that steal merchandise to finance their illicit businesses.
Impact on production
“It’s not that thefts happen every day, but when they happen, it affects the production of an entire week,” says Kléber Porquenza, owner of a shrimp farm in the province of Guayas.
The businessman is afraid of the kidnappings, after that of a colleague of his in June, in Durán, a town near Guayaquil besieged by drug groups.
He avoids disclosing how much he has invested to protect his company with private guards and a video surveillance system.
According to the CNA, shrimp farmers spend USD 100 million annually on security, which makes them less competitive compared to countries like India or Vietnam, where production is cheaper.
Other factors such as the drop in price due to lower demand in China, the main destination, also hit the market.
Extortions
Edison Brito, president of the Chamber of Shrimp Producers of the province of El Oro, denounces extortion of companies in exchange for “supposed security.”
“We have given in because there is no support from the Navy. “There is no choice (but to pay),” he adds.
Shrimp sales grew from USD 3,190 million in 2018 to a ceiling of 7,289 million in 2022, according to the Central Bank.
From January to July of this year, they generated USD 4,397 million in income for Ecuador.
