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Rainbow Warrior Released, Ecuadorian Judge Dismissed:

Summary: QUITO, Ecuador, July 31, 1998 (ENS) - Ecuadorian authorities have released the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior held after a shrimp farm protest action Sunday. The judge who ruled against the environmental group was dismissed late Wednesday.

Long Description: QUITO, Ecuador, July 31, 1998 (ENS) - Ecuadorian authorities have released the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior held after a shrimp farm protest action Sunday. The judge who ruled against the environmental group was dismissed late Wednesday for gross ignorance of the law.

After interrogating the judge who had served the detaining order on the Rainbow Warrior, the President of the Supreme Court of Ecuador decided to dismiss him and installed a new judge, who revoked the detaining order against the Greenpeace flagship.

Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior

A statement from the Environment Minister of Ecuador recognised that the shrimp farmer who was the target of Sunday's action had no authorization to construct and install the shrimp pond and was operating illegally. The destruction of mangrove forests by shrimp farming interests has been illegal in Ecuador since 1994.

On Sunday, 200 residents of the Muisne region near Esmeraldas led by members of Industrial Shrimp Action Network, Fundecol, and Greenpeace dug trenches into the dikes of a shrimp pond that was illegally constructed by Yen Win Chucam. This was done to continue Fundecol's mangrove reforestation project.

Strong public pressure has led to the dropping of the charges filed by the ACEBAE, a provincial association of shrimp farmers, on behalf of Yen Win Chucam, the businessman who illegally constructed the target shrimp farm.

"El Chino," as Yen Win Chucam is locally known, has threatened to file other charges. His shrimp farm had been very recently established in one of the last remaining mangrove forests in the Muisne region.

In this remote area, 20,800 hectares of mangroves have been reduced by shrimp farms to just 650 hectares in the course of 10 years.

A resolution has been filed with the Ecuadorian Congress to revert illegally built shrimp farms to mangroves, providing a window of opportunity to change Ecuador's policy and practice. But this session of Congress is about to end, and a newly elected administration will arrive in less than two weeks.

At least 80 percent of operational shrimp ponds in the province of Esmeraldas are illegal, said Rosendo Roxas, a member of the Ecuadorian Congress who participated last week in an investigation of the mangrove areas led by Industrial Shrimp Action Network.

mangroves

Mangrove roots support a complex ecosystem as a nursery ground for sea creatures and protection against storms, flooding and erosion.

Media coverage of the seizure of the Rainbow Warrior helped to focus public attention on the plight of Ecuador's mangrove forests and the effects of shrimp aquaculture on local communities. A TV station in the capital city of Quito conducted an opinion poll Sunday regarding the protest action. It reported last night that more than 80 percent of those polled support the demonstrators.

On Wednesday the Independent Corruption Commission agreed to start an investigation after hearing arguments by Greenpeace and Fundecol that the illegal construction of this particular shrimp farm is not an isolated incident, but is part of widespread abuse which has seen the mangrove forests of Ecuador decimated despite the 1994 moratorium.

"We are currently looking at filing charges of corruption against officials of INEFAN, the government agency in charge with the management of mangrove forests in Ecuador," said Isabel de la Torres of Fundecol.

"Fundecol has filed about 100 complaints to INEFAN detailing the illegal construction of shrimp ponds, especially in reserve areas. INEFAN has been brazenly brushing these complaints aside despite the issuance of Dicreto Ejecutivo 1907.94, a moratorium on the cutting of mangrove trees for the purpose of building shrimp ponds issued by Ecuadorian government," de la Torres said.

"We appreciate that the Ecuadorian authorities recognise our efforts to defend the law and protect the mangrove forests. However, there is still much to be done here and we are not ready to leave until the Ecuadorian Government guarantees the protection of local environmental activists," said Greenpeace spokesperson Gina Sanchez.

Sanchez called on the Ecuadorian government to extend indefinitely the 1994 moratorium on the cutting of mangrove forests for shrimp ponds.

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