01:01:00:00
OPENING CREDITS
01:01:26:09
01:01:35:08
Sound Lider Gongora, environmental activist (off)
We have to tell the world how this shrimp is produced. The consumers need to know where this shrimp comes from, and how it is produced.
01:01:44:00
01:01:47:16
In 7 years, Ecuador has become the fifth largest producer of shrimps worldwide.
Every year, this industry generates over one billion dollars. It is the second largest source of income after oil for this small country of 14 million people.
Guayaquil, the biggest port of Ecuador, is the focal point of this industry.
We are in one of the largest exporters in the country.
Every day, over 60 tons of shrimps are being peeled, sorted out and packaged here.
Javier Pintay is in charge of this shrimp plant. 95% of his production is exported, mostly to Europe.
01:03:00:17
01:03:02:06
Sound Javier Pintay, plant manager
These shrimps are usually going to France. We make whole shrimps, because this is what the French consumers like best.
But we also produce shrimp tails. Some 120 people work around the clock here to peel the shrimps, before they get frozen.
01:03:24:24
01:03:30:00
In Mr. Javier's plant, nothing goes to waste. Everything is re-used.
01:03:36:00
01:03:38:00
Sound Javier Pintay, plant manager
Now we are chopping the heads off. We save them to make pet food.
The heads will be mixed with animal meal and will be used to feed either shrimps or fish.
01:03:56:14
01:04:01:00
The work is being carried out in assembly lines, up to 12 hours a day.
Tania is one of the 500 workers of the plant.
01:04:08:10
01:04:10:04
Sound Tania, plant worker
I come from the Santa Elena district. There isn't much work there, that's why I decided to move to the city.
This job is the best one I found because the wages are higher than elsewhere.
01:04:29:03
01:04:31:00
Tania is paid on a daily basis. She makes 10 cents per kilo of peeled shrimps. On a good month, she can make up to 350 dollars. A great deal in a country where 30% of the population survives on less than 50 dollars per month.
Tania has lived for the last 10 years in Bastion Popular, a neighborhood that was developed around one of the biggest industrial areas of the city.
She lives here with her husband Manuel.
He also works in a packaging plant.
They got a mortgage to buy their house, but their situation remains precarious.
This morning at 11 o clock, the plant hadn't been supplied with shrimps so they were sent home.
01:05:20:13
01:05:25:14
Sound Tania
This month, we've had 3 weeks like that, with nearly no work. We hope it will get better ... Otherwise, we will have to look for another job in the same type of plant.
01:05:43:04
01:05:56:07
Sound Tania
What I would love is to have my own business. If I get accepted at University, I would study pharmacy. This is my dream.
He would also love to open a chemist's shop. But first, we need to study !
01:06:22:11
01:06:43:00
We are two hours south of Guayaquil. Here, a few miles away from the Pacific Ocean, you can find the largest concentration of farms in the country.
In Ecuador, the shrimp industry employs 250 000 people.
Carlos is a biologist. He works for an industrial breeder of the district. This morning he is checking on the shrimps to make sure they are healthy.
01:07:22:00
01:07:31:19
Sound Carlos Gracia, biologist, Esca Pesca farm
The antennas of the shrimp are in good shape. It fed well.
Shrimps can get stressed. They can get sick. They feel every change in temperature, in the salt content, and it affects them.
But now they are fine, they feed well.
01:07:56:14
01:07:58:05
Carlos works on a farm of 230 hectares, with 20 ponds which produce every year 500 tons of shrimps. The days of the small producer are gone, today it is all about industrial farming.
01:08:10:24
01:08:12:10
Live Carlos Gracia/Gualberto Tomala, biologists
What do you think of this land? It's good don't you think? It looks healthy.
01:08:18:01
01:08:18:23
Sound Carlos Gracia, biologist
Today, there is a real awareness among producers. It's a new generation of breeders.
They work no longer with antibiotics but with organic acids, essential oils. It's all about being close to nature. It's all about treating the ground in a natural way.
01:08:38:15
01:08:41:14
However, if some improvements have been made since Rafael Correa came into power in 2006 much remains to be done
The mangrove, this fragile ecosystem that is protected in many countries is devastated here by extensive farming.
These thousands of ponds had been dug up and destroyed by bulldozers and farmers in the 80ies.
01:09:17:00
01:09:20:04
Sound Lider Gongora, environmental activist
We used to have 362 000 hectares of mangrove. According to the official governmental statistics, there are barely 108 000 left. We have lost 70% of this ecosystem in Ecuador. We are talking about an ecological imbalance.
Nature has been poorly treated, weakened, endangered. And more important, the population whose livelihoods depend on this resource is being endangered.
01:09:48:17
01:09:54:12
The small-scale fishermen who live in these villages on stilts along the coast are the ones who suffer the most the loss of this ecosystem.
When they cut those trees, the shrimp producers destroyed the very resources of the people living in the mangrove.
Every morning for the last 40 years, Lucio has left his village to go to the forest that grows along the estuary of the Huayla river.
He only has a few hours ahead of him before the tide comes in to pick crabs and shells. It is a difficult job that has been the tradition of these communities. The skills and techniques have been passed on from generation to generation.
01:11:01:04
01:11:30:23
Sound Pablo, small-scale fisherman
Because of the shrimp farms, there are less and less crabs around here. It has become very hard to find them today.
There used to be plenty of crabs before because there were more mangroves.
01:11:47:02
01:12:06:21
Live Pablo/Lucio Cacao, small-scale fishermen
Pablo : How many have you got ?
Lucio : It's all been taken. There are only small shell fish left.
01:12:13:07
01:12:15:03
Sound Lucio Cacao, small-scale fisherman
The producers have destroyed the mangrove. A shrimp farm uses between 200 and 1000 hectares for its production.
If it farms 500 hectares, it means that they only feed 6 or 7 families. Whereas one single hectare of mangrove feeds 20 families.
That's the reason why we want our mangrove back. That's our livelihood.
01:12:50:08
01:13:00:09
With the catch of the day, Lucio and his friends are hoping to make around 7 dollars that they will have to split.
01:13:05:06
01:13:12:08
Sound Lider Gongora, environmental activist
We are the poorest segment of the population of the country, but yet we are the main contributor of the GNP of Ecuador. Here, at the local level, we don't benefit from it. What's the use then?
01:13:24:13
01:13:28:00
The shrimp farms have taken over the estuary, and they are hidden in the mangrove so nobody can see them.
Between the ponds we can see the remains of deserted villages. Those ghost places worry Carlos Robles, the environmentalist.
01:13:45:00
01:13:48:11
Sound Carlos Robles, environmentalist
A community of fishermen and gatherers used to live here. They used to fish shrimp in the estuary. It was net fishing.
It all disappeared when the shrimp farms appeared.
This community had to move towards the city.
The whole village life has been turned upside down since the ponds are being guarded by watchmen. These watchmen don't let the villagers walk freely in the mangrove.
Hence a social conflict has risen.
01:14:23:22
01:14:34:23
Sound Lucio Cacao, small-scale fisherman
We are aware that this side is the domain of shrimp farmers. But on this side it's the mangrove and it's ours. This is here that we can pick shell fish and crabs. They are patrolling on this wall to make sure that we don't cross near them. If we do, they shoot at us or send their dogs.
01:15:08:00
01:15:10:00
The farmers don't only have packs of dogs. Now they hire private armed militias to protect the farms.
There is more and more tension with the fishermen such as Lucio.
01:15:25:00
01:15:28:16
Sound Lucio Cacao
It is right here, in this estuary that died one of the 9 fishermen that have been killed in our district. He was found right here, at the bottom of these roots. We searched for him for 2 days straight, until some of our fishing buddies found him here.
01:15:54:22
01:16:05:17
The estuary has become a war zone.
On one side, there are the shrimp farmers who do whatever they want.
On the other side, some desperate fishermen.
Some of them engage in criminal acts and destroy the farms as a sign of protest.
They loot the farms to sell the shrimps at the local market.
These truckloads of stolen shrimps are supplying a parallel market. The shell fish are sold for about 50 cents per kilo, which is three times cheaper than the official price.
A small percentage of these fishermen have gone into organized crime.
In order to fight this new form of piracy, the coast guard units have been strengthened.
01:16:58:14
01:17:10:12
Live Lieutenant Harry Fuentes, commando of Puerto Bolivar Coast guards
Hello Gentlemen, this is the port authorities. Please come forward. We are about to complete a safety inspection. Please give me the boat's documents please.
Thank you very much for your collaboration.
01:18:01:22
01:18:15:13
Sound Lieutenant Harry Fuentes, coast guard
This area is one of the most dangerous ones in the region. We patrol a lot here. We inspect every boat that comes in or out.
The pirates are well-organized. They infiltrate the mangrove and destroy the farms. They steal the shrimps and the pumps in the ponds. They also steal from the employees their personal belongings, their phones, their money, and their clothes.
They are not isolated individuals, but organized gangs of twenty men, all armed.
01:19:04:10
01:19:06:17
The catches can be as big as 10 tons of shrimps.
The pirates raid either the farms either the boats that carry the cargo to the ports.
And the coast guards are often powerless when they are faced with this situation. Besides most of the attacks are not reported for fear of retaliation.
01:19:25:21
01:20:29:12
Another source of tension is the property of the mangrove.
The individual fishermen have to fight now to keep their lands that are often taken by big shrimp farm owners.
01:20:40:10
01:20:40:15
Live Lider Gongora/Jael Fulton, Bajo Alto resident
Lider : Hello brother !
Jael : Hey brother, how is it going ?
01:20:47:23
01:20:48:18
Lider is here to support the Bajo Alto community.
After having been kicked out by the farmers, the villagers have decided to move back on the lands that they had been living on for several generations. A land that belongs tot the government.
01:21:00:00
01:21:00:15
Live Jael Fulton/Lider Gongora
Jael : We're glad to have you around !
Lider : On those lands, people grow their own food, is that it ?
Jael : On those farmed lands, you can find manioc, bananas, papaya, guava, cashew trees, anona, sugar cane, coconuts, chickens, ducks.
Lider : A bit of everything !
Jael : All those lands are shrimp farms.
Lider : Do you know who they belong to ?
Jael : To Mister Castillo.
Lider : How many hectares would you say he has ?
Jael : He has 45.
Lider : And it used to be mangrove ?
Jael : Yes it was all mangrove. The only part that wasn't is here, and it is firm ground. All the rest was mangrove. The farmers destroyed everything. They took over our ancestral lands, and in doing so, they reduced the size of our community.
01:22:05:03
01:22:06:02
Sonore Lider Gongora, environmental activist
For us people living on the mangrove and whose livelihoods depend on, this industry is a crime.
This is an industry that has forced us to move away, that has taken our culture, our traditions, our legends away from us.
01:22:25:06
01:22:33:14
60 families have been living in these shacks for the last 7 years.
Without electricity, without water, without school. But for them it is a better option than living in a slum in Guayaquil.
A court decision has already been issued in their favor, but the town authorities and the farmer keep pressing charges.
01:22:51:08
01:23:10:06
Sonore Julio Yorena, Bajo Alto resident
As our friend Jael said, it will end pretty badly here.
What's really going on, it's that there is a lot of backroom deals down here. The president knows nothing about it. We would like him to come down here because he should know about it.
On top of it, the governments asked the communities to find a way to get their ancestral lands back. That's what we did, we managed to get back what belongs to us. All those efforts for 4 hectares.
01:23:43:14
01:23:43:18
Sound Jael Fulton, Bajo Alto resident
We are ready to fight and we will keep fighting until we have the evidence that we own this land.
01:23:52:06
01:23:57:15
Sonore Lider Gongora
In order to succeed, there has to be a real public policy in Ecuador. Not only some constitutional documents but a policy that is being implemented.
We have to rally together, get organized. We can't give up.
01:24:10:14
01:24:16:11
One week after our visit, the 60 families of Bajo Alto were evicted.
Some one hundred military officers and policemen took over the town and destroyed it.
In a few minutes, it was all in ruins.
01:24:35:04
01:25:23:16
Carlos the environmental activist still believes that it is possible to bring together the interests of the shrimp farmers and those of the fishermen.
He has convinced a farm owner to give up one of his ponds to respect the law on reforestation. Together they planted 26 000 mangrove shoots over these 8 hectares.
01:25:52:00
01:25:55:14
Sound Carlos Robles, environmental activist
It would be in the government's best interest to conduct an awareness campaign. We all hope for a happy end called « balance ». It is vital that everybody feels that they are part of the same cycle.
You give a mangrove sprout, and I will grow a tree; you make me aware and I will stop polluting. This is all we need. Nothing more. Harmony.
01:26:24:18
01:26:29:00
Protecting the mangrove is in the hands of the farm owners.
The shrimp industry is a very prosperous business. Despite the crisis, demand in Europe hasn't stopped increasing.
In 2011, the exports from Ecuador grew by 20% thanks to new buyers such as China and India.
The mangrove and the fishermen will most likely be left out from this growth.
01:26:52:10
01:27:24:00
END CREDITS
01:27:45:00
END