The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 3: March 1995
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Update from the Galapagos
Sharks of the Galapagos Islands have received a reprieve from wide-
scale, legal exploitation. Although a memorandum prohibiting shark
fishing in the Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve was signed by
Ecuador's President Sixto Duran-Ballen in September 1994, there
remained concern that the fishery would open on January 15, 1995
because the memorandum was never formally signed into law.
However, fishing effort has been temporarily diverted from sharks to
a so-called "experimental" sea cucumber fishery.
For the moment, Galapagos fishers are not interested in legalising
a shark fishery. Sea cucumbers are much more lucrative than shark
fins and easier to collect. But sea cucumbers are going fast and it
won't be long before the highly overcapitalised fishery shifts its effort
to sharks and other species in demand by the Asian marketplace.
The get-rich-quick exploitation is encouraging immigration of
fishers from the Ecuadorian mainland, and the expanding fishery is
increasingly difficult to monitor and control. When the sea cucumber
fishery was finally closed in December (after the catch had exceeded
the quota by about 12 times), angry fishers seized the Charles Darwin
Research Station and Galapagos National Park headquarters for three
days in violent protest. If the Galapagos are to remain a priceless
ecological jewel and a long-term source of income for Ecuador,
conservationists urge that management of the Marine Reserve be
based on sound science and ecological sustainability rather than the
current drive toward resource "mining."
The SSG is still being asked to provide information on shark
exploitation and management as requested in the Action Alert that
accompanied the last issue of Shark News. A more detailed update
and additional suggestions for action are available from the author,
Merry Camhi (by mail or e:mail: mcamhi@audubon.org), who recently
returned from a meeting with conservationists and Ecuadorian officials
in the Galapagos Islands as a representative of the SSG.
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