Sustainable Fisheries and Improved Conservation in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

The Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) is one of the most biodiverse marine areas in the world and was established in 1998 to address concerns about declining fish stocks and to protect against the impacts of longline fishing. It covers an area of 133,000 km2 and was the second largest marine reserve in the world when it was established. It is now the 33rd largest. 

But despite major efforts to conserve its impressive underwater world, it remains under threat. In particular, unsustainable fishing and climate change are negatively impacting the health of the ocean and its valuable ecological functions. 

The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is a marine area with many endemic species. It is also of great ecological and economic importance to Ecuador. The health of its unique biodiversity is therefore very important, due to the various ocean currents that carry nutrient-rich water into the ETP. The abundance of fish and marine life also attracts large fishing fleets. These include the Ecuadorian tuna purse seine and longline fleet, which is a major employer in the region (employing 58,000 people), as well as vessels from around the world. 

Climate change and overfishing in the world's oceans are also causing fish populations to disappear in many areas, making the GMR even more attractive to the fishing industry.

Regular censuses have been carried out in the GMR over the last 20 years, and these have shown that 13 of the 28 species observed have declined sharply. This has affected the livelihoods of Galapagos Islanders, who rely on tourism and traditional fishing for their livelihoods. However, unsustainable fishing practices and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by vessels that operate without transmitters to avoid detection are seriously threatening biodiversity. 

The Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is working hard to find solutions to this problem through the GMR Project. The Galapagos National Park Development (GNPD) is being equipped with innovative technologies to reduce IUU fishing and encourage the fishing industry to improve their fishing methods and make them more sustainable. There are additional activities for local fishermen, where more sustainable fishing gear is presented and its use promoted. Fishermen will also be involved in setting catch quotas, counting sharks and detecting IUU vessels. The introduction of new rules for better waste management on vessels and better reporting are also on the agenda. This should enable a change in national and later international marine governance.

The boundaries of the GMR are easy to cross and difficult for GNPD rangers to control. This situation encourages IUU fishing and threatens many species of marine life. A large proportion of the threatened species are sharks. These large predators play a key role in ensuring that the oceans contain ecologically balanced populations of species and can thus fulfil their important function as carbon sinks, which is very important for our climate. Although it is illegal to catch sharks in Ecuador, a legal loophole allows over 250,000 sharks to be declared as by-catch each year.

This is why it is so important to introduce new technology that can constantly monitor the routes of vessels in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). The new system provides a seamless record of all activities within a 100-300km radius of the vessel on which the system is installed. The GNPD not only wants to equip its vessels with this technology, but is also looking for local fishermen who are willing to use the technology to scan their surroundings, record and report illegal fishing or count sharks, in order to prevent IUU fishing both in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ - 12-mile zone) off Ecuador and in the GMR. Between 2018 and 2020 alone, 136 unauthorised fishing vessels were reported in the GMR. This will help the Galapagos National Park Authority (GNPD) enforce effective conservation measures and contribute to the long-term security of jobs and food sources for coastal communities. 

A change in waste management on vessels is necessary, as around 30% of the plastic waste found in the GMR can be attributed to poor waste management by industrial and artisanal fisheries, threatening the resilience of the GMR ecosystem.

In the Galapagos Islands, Cocos Island and mainland Ecuador and Peru, workshops and information sessions are held for industrial and artisanal fishermen to encourage them to use sustainable, environmentally friendly fishing methods such as green stick or kite fishing. The new fishing gear will be made available to them for testing. The experience gained is then analysed to gain more information about the quantity and quality of the catch and the best types of bait. The results are then summarised in life cycle assessments, which allow sustainable recommendations to be made for the entire fishing industry.

 This information also helps to identify where it is important to establish new protected areas, such as the Galápagos-Cocos swimming route. It also provides policy makers with actionable data to recognise and enforce the urgency of international conservation measures. 

Join GCT, Migra Mar and other international organisations in securing the future of the Galapagos Marine Reserve and its inhabitants. 

For example, CHF 13,000 could fund six months of training for fishermen in gear and shark data collection and GMR monitoring.