Sun, 7 May 2023 22:24:58 +1000
Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/12/galapagos-marine-reserve-plan-ecologists-ecuador-fishing-industry>
"Strolling along a beach dotted with sea lion pups and their mothers barking at
one another, utterly unconcerned by your presence, is a singularly magical
experience. On the trail leading to the shore on tiny Seymour Island, noisily
courting blue-footed boobies and frigate birds are equally unruffled by the
presence of humans.
Getting up close to the natural world without disturbing it seems as
refreshingly easy on the Galápagos Islands today as when Charles Darwin visited
on HMS Beagle in 1835. Isolated from the mainland, the archipelago’s unique
endemic species – from giant tortoises to finches – helped Darwin set out his
theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species.
One of the reasons the islands are such a hotbed of life is that the shallower,
nutrient-rich waters around the volcanic atolls are fed by a confluence of cold
and warm currents. This provides a refuge for an array of migratory ocean-going
species, from scalloped hammerhead sharks to leatherback turtles.
But it’s also why industrial foreign fishing fleets lurk at the edge of the
Ecuadorian archipelago’s territorial waters. Nearly 250 vessels – 243 of them
Chinese flagged, including vast fishing boats and refrigerated container ships
– have logged an astounding 73,000 hours of fishing a month and pulled up
thousands of tonnes of squid and fish.
Ecuadorian tuna boats are there, too: they circle the Galápagos marine reserve
– an area of 133,000 sq km (51,000 sq miles) – and float hundreds of fish
aggregation devices, or FADs. Conservationists have been sounding the alarm,
saying that unprecedented pressure from overfishing, and excessive bycatch of
sharks and other species, now threaten marine life in the world-renowned
archipelago.
Their concerns have led to a new proposal: an expansion of the Galápagos marine
reserve area, wrapping another swathe of protected ocean from the north, east
and south around it like a scarf.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, said the
proposal was based on his “government’s strong commitment to conservation, the
protection of the environment and, in particular, the Galápagos Islands”. It
was the same commitment he had set out at the COP25 UN climate change
conference in 2019, he said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
"Strolling along a beach dotted with sea lion pups and their mothers barking at
one another, utterly unconcerned by your presence, is a singularly magical
experience. On the trail leading to the shore on tiny Seymour Island, noisily
courting blue-footed boobies and frigate birds are equally unruffled by the
presence of humans.
Getting up close to the natural world without disturbing it seems as
refreshingly easy on the Galápagos Islands today as when Charles Darwin visited
on HMS Beagle in 1835. Isolated from the mainland, the archipelago’s unique
endemic species – from giant tortoises to finches – helped Darwin set out his
theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species.
One of the reasons the islands are such a hotbed of life is that the shallower,
nutrient-rich waters around the volcanic atolls are fed by a confluence of cold
and warm currents. This provides a refuge for an array of migratory ocean-going
species, from scalloped hammerhead sharks to leatherback turtles.
But it’s also why industrial foreign fishing fleets lurk at the edge of the
Ecuadorian archipelago’s territorial waters. Nearly 250 vessels – 243 of them
Chinese flagged, including vast fishing boats and refrigerated container ships
– have logged an astounding 73,000 hours of fishing a month and pulled up
thousands of tonnes of squid and fish.
Ecuadorian tuna boats are there, too: they circle the Galápagos marine reserve
– an area of 133,000 sq km (51,000 sq miles) – and float hundreds of fish
aggregation devices, or FADs. Conservationists have been sounding the alarm,
saying that unprecedented pressure from overfishing, and excessive bycatch of
sharks and other species, now threaten marine life in the world-renowned
archipelago.
Their concerns have led to a new proposal: an expansion of the Galápagos marine
reserve area, wrapping another swathe of protected ocean from the north, east
and south around it like a scarf.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, said the
proposal was based on his “government’s strong commitment to conservation, the
protection of the environment and, in particular, the Galápagos Islands”. It
was the same commitment he had set out at the COP25 UN climate change
conference in 2019, he said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
