Fish in the Waters Around the Galapagos Islands
There are around 450 species of fish in the waters around the Galapagos Islands, and about 9 to 15 percent of these are endemic to the islands, depending on what studies you look at. There are of course the usual array of marine life in the water: sharks, rays, fish, whales, and fish. The littoral zones of the islands contain creatures such as urchins, sea cucumbers, crabs, and starfish. There are all sorts of shells, reef fish, dolphins, flying fishes, needlefish, and the list goes on.
La Pesca Artesanal Artisanal Fishing
When humans first arrived on the Galapagos Islands, they fished mainly for Groupers and Sea Bass: first for survival and then for export. Then, in the 1930s and 1940s, they caught mainly bacaleo, on a line and then cut in half and salted and dried for preservation. They were for export to South America. In the 1950s, they went mainly for yellow grouper bacalao, yellowtail mullet lisa, and lobster. Starting in the 1980's, bacaleo made up half of the commercial fishing industry in the Galapagos Islands, the other half consisting of groupers. Tuna fishing was not big. Bacalao fishing is done six months out of the year, from Fall to early Spring. In 1992 commercial fishers starting hauling in sea cucumbers as well.
Galapagos Commercial Fishing
Since the early 1990s, comercial fishing has exploded in the Galapagos Islands. The number of fishing boats tripled from 1993 to 2000, as more and more fishermen went for sea cucumbers as well as traditional fish and lobsters. In 1950 teh nubmer of fishermen was around 150. In 2000, that number had grown to over 680. Of course, this doesn't include the large number of illegal, unregistered fishing boats and people. The annual catch is estimated to be around 626 metric tons. Several initiatives have begun since the 1990s, formed to monitor and manage the fishing industry of the Galapagos Islands. In 1997 the Programa de Monitoreo Pesquero (PMP) was formed to monitor fishing. They work with the Marien Resources Unit of the Galapagos National Park (RECMAR) and local fishing cooperatives.
Galapagos Marine Reserve
Established in 1986 by the government of Ecuador, La Reserva Marina de Galapagos (RMG) is the second largest marine reseve in the world (the largest is the Great Barrier Reef). It covers 50,000 square kilometers of ocean and includes the waters between the islands of the Galapagos archipelago. There is also a buffer zone of additional 20,000 square kms, so the total area of the Reserve is 70,000 square km. Members who govern the Reserve are from all fields, including agriculture, defense, industry, foreign affairs, energy, mining, and planning.
The biological preserve protects and preserves the ecology of the islands, and prohibits commercial fishing within its boundaries. Local (artisanal) fishing is allowed, however. Due to abuse of the rules, the reserve has been expanded so that it now covers twice the amount of waters, 140,000 sq. km. They patrol it by air and by sea with 19 coastal marine patrol trips and 11 patrol flights. You can fish for sea cucumbers (pepino) only if you are a Galapagos resident, and only for two months out of every year, in April and May.
There is now a Master Plan, developed out of hte Symposium of Science and Conservation in 1998 in Brussels, by the Charles Darwin Foundation. Teh plan hopes to establsh the second biggest marine preserve in the world. They also want to get the marine reserve into the World Heritage Sites.
Illegal Sea Cucumber Fishing, or the Pepino Affair
Fishermen long used to being able to exploit the sharks and sea cucumbers of the Galapagos Islands, were angry about the Marine Reserve rules and in the 1990s protested. The pirate fishing, which seeks shark fins, sharks, and sea cucumbers, is done by Japanese fishermen with sophisticated equipment and large boats. Sea cucumbers are desirable as food in Japan, and shark fins are popular too. The Ecuadorian government catches Japanese boats full of sharks, shark fins, and pepino on a regular basis. They have to pay fines and are escorted away from the islands. They get tricky, however, and use local boats as disguise, ferrying their catch out the the waiting mother boat further out in the ocean.
Even Ecuadorian fishermen protest the Reserve rules, and ther have been strikes carried out by the Fishing Cooperatives on the Galapagos Islands. The Marine Reserve office has been vandalized, and the manager was almost killed by an angry mob of fishermen. As a result, the allowed fishing period was extended by one month, and quotas were raised.
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