Wildlife faces wipeout in the cradle of evolution,
3-31-05 Galapagos
Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 10:52:11 -0700
Wildlife faces wipeout in the cradle of evolution
Experts warn of 'catastrophic' fishing threat to
Galapagos Islands
By Daniel Howden and Michael McCarthy
31 March 2005
Environmental disaster is looming in the Galapagos
Islands, the Pacific
archipelago whose unique wildlife inspired Charles
Darwin's theory of
evolution. Already under pressure from a rapidly
growing population and
mass
tourism, the waters around the Galapagos face being
devastated by one
of the
world's most wildlife-damaging fishing methods.
The Galapagos have been officially protected for
nearly 20 years and
form
part of the Galapagos World Heritage Site. But now the
islands' 1,000
fishermen want to introduce long-lining - a technique
involving lines
many
miles long holding hundreds of thousands of baited
hooks, which catch
and
kill as many birds and animals as the fish that are
targeted.
Conservationists fear that the species-rich marine
ecosystem of the
islands,
governed by Ecuador, which is 600 miles to the east,
will be cut to
pieces.
Sea lions, dolphins, turtles, sharks, penguins,
albatrosses and many
other
seabirds, all of which are major tourist attractions,
are all likely to
fall
victim to the hooks.
"This will be a disaster for the environment," said
Leonor Stjepic, the
executive director of the London-based Galapagos
Conservation Trust
(GCT)last night.
There is growing worldwide alarm at the threat,
heightened by the
islands'
iconic environmental status as the cradle of evolution
- the place
where
Charles Darwin began to think about the origins of the
many different
species that could be found there and nowhere else,
when he arrived as
the
naturalist aboard HMS Beagle in 1835. His Galapagos
observations led
directly to his theory of evolution by natural
selection.
Unesco, the United Nations organisation which declared
the islands a
World
Heritage Site in 1978, is so concerned that it is
sending a delegation
to
the archipelago on 10 April to investigate the "urgent
situation". The
UN
body is considering putting the islands on its "danger
list", which is
a
catalogue of globally important sites at immediate
risk. "If it is
determined the threat is very serious and getting
worse, the islands
could
be put on the danger list," said Unesco's marine
specialist Marjaana
Kokkonen.
Some observers feel the threat has increased under the
current
administration of Colonel Lucio Guiterrez, which came
to power two
years ago
and has been propped up by support from militant
unions, including
fishermen
determined to increase their catches.
Last year, an attempt to enforce a limit on
sea-cucumber harvests -
worth
$3m (�1.6m) annually - angered Galapagos fishermen,
who threatened park
rangers with petrol bombs and in one incident took 30
scientists and a
number of the islands' giant tortoises hostage. Xavier
Bustamente, head
of
Ecuador's leading conservation movement, the Fundacion
Natura, said:
"If
this situation doesn't change it will be catastrophic
for the
Galapagos."
The islands' burgeoning population, which has risen
from fewer than
2,000
people in 1960 to nearly 27,000 today, puts increasing
pressure on
natural
resources. But the long-lining issue threatens an
imminent crisis - the
fishermen will be holding a meeting with the islands'
conservation
board
next month to press their case.
What concerns and angers conservationists around the
world is that the
fishermen want to use the method throughout the
Galapagos marine
reserve,
which has been in existence since 1986 and protects
all the waters
around
the 13 islands in the group. "If they bring it in, it
will be the death
of
the Galapagos," said Paul Watson, a co-founder of
Greenpeace, and now
head
of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Mrs Stjepic of the GCT pointed out that a long-lining
pilot project had
been
carried out in the Galapagos last year and that the
level of bycatch
involved - the other marine life caught inadvertently
alongside the
catch -
was "very high". She said: "It involved sharks,
albatrosses, turtles,
sea
lions and boobies [a species of seabird] and in some
cases it was 80
per
cent of the total catch. Long-lining basically means
anything that uses
the
sea to live or to fish is at risk."
She added: "In the Galapagos there are 29 species of
sharks, 14 of
which are
officially considered under threat. If there is that
level of bycatch
there
is very little possibility of them surviving." Another
marine animal,
the
laud, or leatherback, turtle, was in imminent danger
of extinction
throughout the Pacific, she said. "Every individual
caught as bycatch
will
represent a direct threat to the survival of the
species."
Tour operators have come out strongly against
long-lining. "We are
completely against long-line fishing in any form in
the protected
waters of
the Galapagos islands," said David Blanton, director
of the
International
Galapagos Tour Operators Association. "To us, it is
inconceivable that
this
form of fishing is even being discussed for the
Galapagos Marine
Reserve, a
World Heritage Site."
ENDANGERED SPECIES?
Marine iguana
Takes its red colouring from the seaweed that is the
mainstay of its
diet.
Galapagos albatross
One of the ocean's great travellers. It nests almost
uniquely on the
island
of Espa�ola in the archipelago.
Blue-footed booby
The bird with the most comedic mating dance; raises
its bright blue
feet one
at a time and then swivels its head away from
prospective mates.
Galapagos penguin
Smallest of the warm weather penguins, it stands only
16in to 18in
tall.
Green turtle
Abounds on the volcanic islands and lays its eggs in
big batches on
white
sands.
Galapagos shark
Unique to these islands. Mainly a bottom dweller and
hugs the varied
coastline.
3 April 2005 10:41
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