Ecuador’s National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) has called on the government to refrain from advancing plans to issue large electricity cuts during the last two weeks of the year.
Power outages have battered Ecuador for months as adverse weather conditions have particularly affected areas where the country’s dams are located, which is especially problematic in Ecuador as hydropower comprises nearly 60 percent of the energy the nation generates.
“If this scenario continues, the [shrimp] sector could accumulate losses of tens of millions in a few weeks, compromising not only exports but also the domestic production of inputs and the survival of shrimp in pools that depend on electrical systems,” the CNA said in a September release.
Now, the plan for electricity cuts at the end of the year would target the nation’s high voltage-consuming industries, according to Energy Minister Inés Manzano. Speaking on Radio Sucesos on 12 December, she said the blackout would last through 31 December, but if the blackout elicited sufficient energy savings, it could end as soon as 20 December.
Ecuador’s larger shrimp-farming firms would be part of that group of high-energy consumers, a source from CNA told SeafoodSource.
“The shrimp sector has done its part: We operate with a minimum load and self-generate what is necessary to sustain production,” CNA Executive President José Antonio Camposano said on X. “A massive outage would be devastating. We urge the authorities to reconsider this measure to avoid a mortal blow on the sector!”
The plan seeks to favor consumption in the residential sector, but Industrial Chamber of Guayaquil President Francisco Jarrín said that Ecuador's industrial production is responsible for about 26 percent of energy consumption.
“They want us to pay 100 percent of the cost of this crisis,” he told local publication Ecuavisa Noticias.
Shrimp exports from Ecuador – the world’s largest shrimp producer – have continued to fall over the past few months as the country faces domestic and international hurdles that have stymied growth. Power cuts comprise one of the main domestic issues.
