Ecuadorian shrimp industry is on the verge of collapse due to security crisis

Serious safety issues not only pose a threat to the long-term prosperity of the industry, but also have a direct impact on the life safety of practitioners. An anonymous medium-sized shrimp producer from Ecuador expressed extreme concern about the current situation in a media interview. He told journalists that the shrimp industry experienced a total of 77 criminal incidents in 2023, resulting in 58 injuries to employees and four deaths. Unfortunately, 2024 is off to an even worse start with an alarming security situation across the country. The raging crime wave has left industry practitioners unsure whether they can return home safely and they feel unsafe even at home. Sector representatives stressed that although the strictest precautions have been taken, safety cannot be guaranteed. As a result, production activities have been seriously affected and current working and living conditions have become almost impossible to maintain. The security crisis in Ecuador has reached its ...