Is shrimp becoming Ecuador's new oil – and at what cost? Valerie Lenikus uncovers the political-economic drivers and the socio-ecological implications of extractivism: how export-led aquaculture has razed mangroves, displaced coastal livelihoods, and sharpened struggles over land and natural resources. Based on the Latin American debate on extractivism, historical conditions and inequalities, and the controversial constitution of 2008, the complex power relations on different spatial levels are depicted, linking the central role of the state and its policies with concrete struggles of communities.