UPDATE ON FISHERMEN STRIKING IN PUERTO AYORA, SANTA CRUZ
Fernando Espinoza, Executive Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, has notified the Galapagos Conservation Trust of the latest information on the fishing situation in the Galapagos Islands.
- Sea Cucumber Fishing.
The fishing of sea cucumber has been authorised
for two months from 15 May 2002. There will be no quotas this year but
there are several restrictions:
- no sea cucumber under 20cm in size may be fished.
- no fishing is allowed in the Bolivar Canal, in Zone 1 areas, or off the islands of San Cristobal and Santa Cruz
- Long line fishing within the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
The Charles Darwin Foundation, in an agreement made in April, had agreed to a pilot project on long line fishing as long as certain conditions were met. The fishermen were not happy with this as they want to be able to long line fish within the Marine Reserve. The day before yesterday (Thursday) there was a meeting of the Participatory Management Board (PMB) [which includes all the stakeholders i.e. conservationists, fishermen, tour operators, etc] which lasted 4 hours, to discuss this issue. The position of the Charles Darwin Foundation is that it is opposed to long line fishing in the Galapagos Marine Reserve; it is only prepared to accept long line fishing as a study into its effects within the pilot project suggested. The Charles Darwin Foundation is preparing a document on the known effects of long line fishing throughout the world which it will present to the next meeting of the PMB (on 13 May there will be a new meeting of the PMB to discuss the issue again). On 20 May there will be a meeting of the Interinstitutional Management Authority (IMA) who will make the final decision based on the discussions of the PMB at the 13 May meeting.
For further information on these and other articles, visit
Charles Darwin Research Station
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