Ostensibly to protect its deep-sea fishery from the depredations of foreign commercial fleets, Ecuador claims that its territorial waters extend 200 miles offshoresomething of a stretch beyond the usual twelve-mile limit. Yanqni tuna fishermen have "intruded" regularly over the years, sometimes paying the Ecuadoreans a license fee, sometimes not. Without a license, the American boats run the risk of seizure by the Ecuadorean navy. (More than half of Ecuador's 21 ships, as it happens, were supplied by the U.S.) Lately the Ecuadoreans have been getting more aggressive: since Jan. 11 they have seized 17 U.S. fishing boats, three...
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