Galapagos Marine Life Alarm
- provided by the World Conservation Union

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Gland, Switzerland, March 31 - A group of international experts from several major environmental organizations met today at the Swiss headquarters of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to sound the alarm about the survival of marine life in the Galapagos Islands, in particular, concerning the inadequate management of the Marine Resource Reserve created there by the Government of Ecuador in 1986.

The waters of this Ecuadorian archipelago, termed a "Natural Laboratory of Evolution", support a wide array of native species, including twenty-seven varieties of sharks - among them a rare hammerhead - and the world's only marine lizard. But this endemic richness is rapidly being depleted by the commercial overfishing of sharks, lobsters and sea cucumbers exported to Asian markets.

During the round-table meeting in Gland, scientists from The World Conservation Union, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Charles Darwin Foundation underlined that unless fisheries are reoriented towards sustainable practices, Galapagos marine life would suffer irreversible damage, threatening in turn the tourist industry, a major source of hard currency for Ecuador.

Ecuador has asked the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to consider the Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve a candidate for the World Heritage List, that comprises outstanding cultural and natural sites around the world, the "crown jewels" of our inheritance. But in view of the current overexploitation of marine life in the area, the World Heritage Committee last December deferred the decision to include it on the list. Instead, according to Fernando Ghersi, IUCN's Latin America Area Coordinator "concerns over inadequacies in the management of the waters surrounding the islands have already led to suggestions that the Reserve should rather be considered for the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger."

Peter Kramer, Director of Network Development at WWF International said that "many tour operators in Europe and the United States are standing up and sending notes of protest to the Ecuadorian government, since the well-being of their industry is directly linked to the pristine quality of the marine environment of the Galapagos National Park." Income from the over 60,000 tourists that visit the Galapagos annually is reportedly much higher than that from commercial fishing operations.

Craig MacFarland, President of the Charles Darwin Foundation, a member of IUCN, noted that "despite an official ban by Ecuadorian Government, thousands of fishermen are currently harvesting sea cucumbers and disrupting the marine ecosystem, since cucumbers play a vital role in recycling nutrients and serve as food for other sea life. If nothing is done the likely scenario will be that other resources will be overexploited leaving local fishermen without their traditional stock to fish".

A World Conservation Union technical team, with the support of scientists at the University of Guam and representatives of Ecuador's National Fisheries Institute (INP), found, in April 1993, that some populations of sea cucumbers had been completely fished out at certain locations. The team added that at the reported level of current exploitation, the species would be wiped out in four or five years.

The Union's report recommends that fisheries in the waters of Galapagos remain closed and proposes integrated management of the marine area, with clear lines of responsibility and authority laid out to enforce regulations. It also asks that local communities be encouraged to actively participate in making their fisheries sustainable through an effective educational program.

"With some financial and technical support from the international community, Ecuadorian authorities could use existing resources to enforce the rules that protect the marine reserve", noted Craig MacFarland. "However as a first step to save the area, an international mission of experts should be formed this year to gather data and produce an accurate assessment of the site's current state" concluded the President of the Charles Darwin Foundation.

For additional information or interviews, please contact The World Conservation Union, 28 rue Mauverney, 1196 Gland, Switzerland, Phone (41 22) 999 01 15.

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