At the beginning of the 1970s, a fish processing plant, producing fishmeal fore export, named Pesquera la Polar was installed in a fishing community named Salango in the Ecuadorian coastal region. This area would be later declared as Machalilla National Park-MNP (1979), one of the main touristic areas in the country. MNPs borders did not include the Salango Comuna. However, it did include the island under the same name and two maritime miles around it. In spite of the environmental legislation, until the 1990s the company developed its activities without the use of adequate technology to avoid or reduce the environmental impacts that directly affected the inhabitants of Salango and the MNP. As a consequence, the local people decided to organize and demand that the company introduced technological innovations in order to avoid the socio-environmental impacts.