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Agriculture
Beautiful stallion
(Amazon), Coast and Sierra, with 50%, 25.5%
and 24.5% respectively. Unused agricultural area
reaches 18 million hectares.
The regions of the Coast and Amazon produce
mainly beef cattle, while dairy cattle takes place
mainly in the Sierra. On the coast, the cattle graz-
es on land unsuited for agriculture, such as sea-
sonally flooded river plains, or semiarid parts of
the south. Dairying is carried out in the mountains,
fertile valleys, particularly between Riobamba and
the border with Colombia.
Beef cattle is relatively new in the Amazon region.
There are large areas suitable for grazing. The
beef industry suffered in this region after a seri-
ous setback in 1987 when an earthquake dam-
aged the roads used to transport the meat.
Historically, Livestock production in Ecuador has
adopted a model for agriculture development
which is basically extensive.
FISHING:
The governing body of the fishing sector is the Un-
dersecretary of Fisheries. It manages, regulates,
controls, develops and distributes the activity of
industrial and artisanal fisheries through basic and
applied research, technological innovation, develop-
ment of human potential and promotion of products
in domestic and foreign markets. Its core objectives
are conservation and sustainable management of
fisheries resources throughout the country. This
administrative body is headquartered in the city of
Manta and is of national jurisdiction.
Fishing is divided into two main activities: on one
hand, the artisanal fishery with more than 3600
boats that employ more than 25,000 fishermen
with the activity that is close to 8 nautical miles.
On the other hand, the industrial fleet owners
such as Lifinsa, Actorcorp, Alfonso Paz, Alcelsa,
Jadrán Iberopesca and Pesquera Jadrán, among
the most well-known ones. All in all, they employ
about 4200 fishermen.
Capture fisheries
This activity is focused on fishing “transzonal” fish
and highly migratory species (mainly tuna), as
well as populations of small pelagic fish (canned
fish meal), “damersales” species and marine
shrimp fisheries.
Tuna
The activity began in 1952 in the port of Manta
and since then has grown importantly.
Small pelagics
This type of fishery began its activity in the 60´s
to produce fishmeal, canned sardines and mac-
arena. The fleet consisted of ships from 1 to 106
Trn and the total number in 1994-1998 ranged
between 193 and 194 units. The distribution of
these fish is primarily coastal and it accounts for
about 70 nautical miles offshore, covering the
Gulf of Guayaquil, the northern coast of Manabi
and Esmeraldas. The largest catches occurred in
1985 with a total volume of about two million tons,
while in 1998 the total catch reached only about
0.2 million tons.
White fish
This category includes species such as snapper,
tuna, sea bass, dorada, snook, billfish, huayaipe
whose populations are located in coastal areas.
The fleet consists of 205 ships and the main port
is based is Manta. There is little scientific informa-
tion on this species and hence no management
plans.