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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0018/01 0141217
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141217Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9856
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7915
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 3338
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ JAN LIMA 2979
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0424
RUEHBE/AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN 0014
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RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 0965
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 1347
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 2071
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0171
RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA 0001
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0014
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0047
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 4024
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUCPDC/NOAA WASHDC

UNCLAS QUITO 000018 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIS SENV ETRD EC
SUBJECT: ECUADOR DEMARCHE RESPONSE--INTER-AMERICAN TROPICAL TUNA 
COMMISSION 
 
REFTEL: A) 08 STATE 127494, B) McTee-Premont e-mail 5/8/08 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Econoff met with the GOE U/S of Fisheries 
Guillermo Moran and newly-appointed Director of Projects and 
International Cooperation Ramon Montano on January 8 and delivered 
the demarche points from reftel a.  The GOE representatives stressed 
their desire to achieve progress through the Inter-American Tropical 
Tuna Commission (IATTC).  They stated they would like to work more 
closely with U.S. agencies like NOAA in several areas and proposed 
having the GOE and USG craft a joint-proposal prior to the June 2009 
IATTC meeting.  While they politely disagreed about who was to blame 
for the failure of the November 2008 IATTC meeting, the GOE 
officials agreed that the IATTC is an important forum and that 
Eastern Pacific tuna stocks require urgent conservation measures. 
In a separate matter, the GOE officials asked that Ecuadorian 
fishing vessels suspected of violating U.S. regulations not be 
publicly identified, since that led to harassment from NGOs.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
IATTC Conference 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The GOE fisheries representatives who met with Econoff on 
January 8 stressed their desire to cooperate more closely with the 
United States on a range of issues.  Econoff pressed the talking 
points in reftel, noting USG concerns about the recent failures to 
achieve significant results in IATTC meetings and our view that the 
GOE had not played a constructive role.  The GOE representatives 
politely disputed this assessment, saying they were fully committed 
to the success of this forum, and asserting that the GOE position 
was flexible.  They argued that they had simply wanted to ensure 
that, if tuna conservation efforts were to be done through voluntary 
measures (which they blamed on Colombia's actions in the June, 2008 
IATTC meeting), then member states such as Mexico must also behave 
responsibly.  They further argued that it was only logical to 
resolve outstanding issues from 2008 before tackling the agenda for 
¶2009.  They felt that, in fact, good progress had been made on the 
2009 agenda, and that only three issues has been outstanding, none 
of which were of high importance to the GOE. They blamed a lack of 
time and translation resources for the inability to resolve the 
outstanding issues by the end of the meeting. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Econoff stated that our primary concern was that this 
failure not be allowed to repeat itself in the 2009 IATTC meetings. 
The GOE expressed agreement with this, and said that they had 
appointed Mr. Montano as Director of Projects and International 
Cooperation to work toward this goal.  They proposed that the United 
States and Ecuador craft a joint proposal for the next IATTC 
meeting, which might prevent the gridlock experienced last time. 
They also stated a desire to sign an MOU with NOAA for closer 
cooperation on conservation studies and programs for bigeye tuna, 
sharks, tortoises, and marine birds among other issues.  They 
presented Econoff with a copy of a letter sent on January 8, 2009 to 
OES DAS David Balton informing him of Mr. Montano's appointment and 
of their interest in an MOU.  Post has sent a scanned copy of this 
letter to OES. 
 
Ecuadorian Vessels Operating in U.S. Waters 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The most important issue for the GOE representatives was 
their previous request to maintain confidentially regarding the 
identity of Ecuadorian fishing vessels accused of violating US 
regulations (ref b).  They stated that the GOE would be very willing 
to assist the United States in investigating any such violations, 
but said that the current practice of publicly identifying these 
vessels was leading to harassment from groups like Greenpeace.  They 
 
noted that they had promised to provide information about four 
Ecuadorian fishing vessels by Feb. 15, 2009 and expressed optimism 
that this information would be delivered before the deadline. 
Econoff responded that we were aware of these concerns, but that 
these matters were handled by other USG agencies like NOAA and that 
any disclosure policy must comply with U.S. laws.  Econoff informed 
them that the matter was being reviewed, but that we were not able 
to provide an answer at this time. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Post feels that the appointment of Mr. Montano and the 
GOE's expressed desire to work on a joint proposal for the next 
IATTC meeting represents an opportunity to engage the GOE on this 
issue.  Due to the technical nature of the issues involved, this 
would best be accomplished in a direct meeting between USG and GOE 
fishery experts before the June 2009 IATTC meeting.  We would 
welcome comments from Washington agencies on whether this would be 
feasible. 
 
Hodges