Modern Piracy on the Ecuador coast

Modern Piracy on Ecuador’s Coast: An Explainer

Modern piracy on Ecuador’s Pacific coast has little in common with the pirates of popular culture. It usually involves armed men in fast fibreglass boats attacking artisanal fishermen to steal their motors, fuel, equipment, catch—or the entire boat.

In recent years, these robberies have become increasingly connected to extortion, drug trafficking and the criminal organizations competing for control of Ecuador’s ports and coastal communities.

Is it legally “piracy”?

Not always.

Under international law, piracy generally refers to private acts of violence or robbery committed outside any country’s territorial waters. An attack within Ecuadorian waters is more accurately classified as armed robbery at sea.

Fishermen and Ecuadorian media use piratería more broadly for almost any organized armed attack involving boats. For victims, the legal distinction makes little difference.

Who is being targeted?

The main victims are artisanal fishermen operating small boats known as fibras, pangas or lanchas.

Ecuador has more than 23,000 artisanal fishing vessels. A boat typically carries one or two outboard motors, fuel, fishing equipment, navigation devices and several days’ catch.

The motor is often the most valuable asset a fishing family owns. Losing it can end the family’s income immediately.

How does an attack happen?

A suspicious boat approaches a fishing crew offshore, sometimes appearing to be another fishing vessel. Once close enough, armed men force the crew to stop.

Attackers may steal:

• Outboard motors
• Fuel and fishing equipment
• Radios, GPS units and phones
• The catch
• The boat itself

Removing the motor leaves the fishermen drifting without propulsion. Some crews remain at sea for hours or days until another boat or a Navy patrol finds them.

More violent attacks can involve beatings, shootings, temporary abduction or fishermen being forced into the water.

Why steal the motors?

Modern outboard motors are expensive, powerful and relatively portable. Their identifying numbers can be altered before they are sold informally.

Stolen motors may be:

• Resold to other fishermen
• Installed on stolen boats
• Smuggled to another coastal region
• Used on fast boats carrying drugs

This connects maritime robbery to the cocaine trade. Criminal organizations need boats and powerful motors to transfer drugs between vessels or carry shipments north through the eastern Pacific.

Where does it happen?

Maritime crime has been reported along much of Ecuador’s mainland coast, but several areas appear repeatedly.

Esmeraldas: Fishing communities face motor theft, extortion and violence linked to gangs and trafficking routes near Colombia.

Manabí: Manta, Jaramijó, San Mateo and other fishing ports operate near important maritime trafficking corridors. Fishermen’s knowledge of currents, navigation and offshore routes makes them valuable to criminal groups.

Santa Elena: Communities such as Anconcito have experienced coordinated attacks targeting several boats during a single operation.

Guayas and El Oro: The Gulf of Guayaquil, Puerto Bolívar and surrounding estuaries combine fishing, commercial ports, mangroves and access to trafficking routes.

Attacks can occur elsewhere, and the absence of reported cases does not necessarily mean an area is free of maritime crime.

How is it connected to drug trafficking?

Fishing vessels provide useful cover for traffickers. They already travel offshore, carry fuel and regularly encounter other boats.

Criminal organizations seek fishermen with:

• Navigation experience
• Knowledge of currents and patrol patterns
• Access to boats and motors
• Contacts inside fishing ports
• The ability to remain offshore for extended periods

Some fishermen participate voluntarily because one trafficking voyage may pay more than a year of legal fishing. Others report being threatened or forced to cooperate.

This does not mean that artisanal fishermen generally are involved in trafficking. Most depend on legitimate fishing. But the criminal use of fishing boats creates suspicion around the entire profession.

In August 2026, the United States sanctioned an alleged trafficking network that it said operated behind legitimate fishing businesses near Manta, transferring cocaine from fishing vessels to fast boats travelling toward Mexico and the United States.

Piracy now begins on land

Modern maritime crime is no longer limited to attacks offshore.

Gangs may demand vacunas—extortion payments—from fishermen, boat owners, fish buyers, fuel vendors and seafood businesses. Payment supposedly buys permission to work without being attacked.

Mongabay reported in 2025 that more than 70% of fishermen covered by its reporting in Puerto Bolívar were paying up to USD 300 per month in extortion. That figure should not be applied automatically to every fisherman in El Oro, but it shows the scale of the problem in some communities.

A gang does not need to attack every boat if fishermen already believe that refusing to pay will bring punishment.

Who are the pirates?

Some attackers may belong to small groups interested mainly in stealing motors and boats. Others work with larger criminal organizations as thieves, transporters, suppliers or local enforcers.

Groups associated with Ecuador’s coastal criminal economy include Los Choneros, Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones, along with smaller factions. Their alliances change, so a particular attack should not be attributed to a gang without evidence.

A larger network may include:

• Pirates who steal motors and boats
• Mechanics who alter serial numbers
• Buyers who resell stolen equipment
• Gangs controlling fishing ports
• Traffickers who need boats and crews
• Corrupt facilitators providing fuel, documents or information

Recovering one stolen motor does not necessarily dismantle the system behind its theft.

Why is the problem difficult to control?

Ecuador’s Navy and Coast Guard must monitor a long coastline, mangrove channels, commercial ports and distant fishing grounds used by thousands of similar-looking boats.

Small vessels can operate without lights or tracking devices and quickly enter isolated coves or estuaries. By the time an attack is reported, the suspects may be far away.

Investigations are also weakened by:

• Limited patrol coverage
• Poor radio or phone service offshore
• Altered motor and boat identification numbers
• Delayed or incomplete complaints
• Fear of retaliation
• Coordination problems among agencies
• Difficulty collecting evidence at sea

Many fishermen believe reporting will not recover their equipment and may instead expose their families to danger.

A Plan V investigation found 526 maritime-crime complaints in Santa Elena between 2015 and early 2022, with none resolved at the time. Although historical, that record helps explain continuing distrust.

What does an attack cost?

The loss extends far beyond the motor.

A fishing family may also lose its fuel, catch, equipment, crew payments and ability to work. Owners may borrow money at unfavourable rates to replace what was stolen.

If a boat is left drifting, the crew also faces dehydration, exposure, injury or death.

Some fishermen leave the industry. Others accept riskier employment—including offers from traffickers—because legal fishing no longer provides enough income.

Lost or abandoned nets create an environmental problem as well. This “ghost gear” continues trapping fish, turtles, sharks and marine mammals.

Are tourists at risk?

Most reported victims are working fishermen, not beach visitors or ordinary tourists.

The existence of maritime piracy does not mean Ecuador’s entire coastline is unsafe. Risk is greater for people travelling offshore at night, operating in isolated areas or using unfamiliar estuaries without local knowledge.

Recreational boaters should check local conditions, carry reliable communications and tell someone their planned route and return time.

What precautions can crews take?

Common measures include:

• Record hull and motor serial numbers.
• Keep photographs and ownership records ashore.
• Carry radios, charged phones and emergency signals.
• Travel with known boats when practical.
• Establish regular check-in times.
• Report suspicious vessels without confronting them.
• File a departure plan with relatives or the appropriate port authority.
• Prioritize the crew’s survival over protecting equipment during an attack.
• Report incidents promptly to the Navy, Coast Guard, port captain or ECU 911.

Arming fishing crews can escalate an attack and may create legal problems. It can also cause fishermen to be mistaken for traffickers.

A new danger: militarized anti-drug operations

By 2026, fishermen were also worried about increasingly aggressive anti-narcotics operations in the eastern Pacific.

These incidents are not piracy because they involve state or state-linked security forces rather than private robbery. However, they add another danger for legitimate fishermen who already face pirates, extortionists and traffickers.

Questions about whether particular vessels were properly identified remain disputed and require independent investigation.

What piracy means for coastal Ecuador

Modern piracy shows that Ecuador’s security crisis does not end at the beach.

The same forces affecting cities—extortion, gang competition, weak institutional presence and cocaine trafficking—have entered fishing ports and offshore waters.

The consequences extend through entire communities:

• Fishing becomes more expensive and dangerous.
• Families lose their principal source of income.
• Gangs gain control over legitimate businesses.
• Young fishermen face pressure to work for traffickers.
• Honest crews are viewed with growing suspicion.
• Traditional coastal livelihoods become harder to sustain.

In simple terms

Modern piracy on Ecuador’s coast is primarily the armed robbery and extortion of artisanal fishermen. Attackers steal boats, motors, fuel and equipment, sometimes leaving crews adrift. Some stolen equipment is resold, while some supports drug-trafficking operations. The problem is especially visible around fishing and trafficking corridors in Esmeraldas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Guayas and El Oro. What began as robbery at sea has increasingly become part of a wider criminal system involving gangs, extortion and cocaine trafficking.

Sources: Mongabay, Plan V, InSight Crime, Earth Journalism Network, and the International Maritime Organization.