I spent a week in late June diving the Galápagos, which, as no surprise, was quite amazing. It was especially inspiring at Darwin Island, where the profusion of scalloped hammerheads, Galápagos sharks, green sea turtles, and even a whale shark led one of my guests to observe this was the first truly pristine ocean habitat he had ever seen. That was high praise from a seasoned traveler who has been to Indonesia, Palau, the Tuamotus, and the Red Sea.
It wasn’t totally unspoiled — some sharks had hooks in their mouths, likely from escaping longline fishing fleets that work outside the protected Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Ecuador established this marine protected area (MPA) in 1998 to conserve 50,000 square miles (130,000 square kilometers) of ocean with some of the Earth’s highest levels of marine endemism. Between the park authorities’ enforcement and the tour companies’ self-policing integrity, conservation is a way of life.
A new MPA northeast of the Galápagos Archipelago — the Hermandad Marine Reserve — added 23,000 square miles (60,000 square kilometers) to the current GMR in 2022 to protect the Galápagos–Cocos Swimway, a marine migratory corridor for dozens of protected species. Four countries in the Eastern Tropical Pacific signed on to this historic collaboration to provide sustainable management for the Cocos Islands (Costa Rica), Galápagos (Ecuador), Malpelo (Colombia), and Coiba (Panama). Prohibiting longlines is their highest-profile initiative and, given the unconscionable bycatch associated with this fishery, is the most immediately essential. Rules mean little without enforcement, however, and enforcement is expensive.
But there is a plan. The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project reported that they leveraged Ecuador’s debt for conservation endeavors by translating $1.6 billion in commercial debt into a $656 million loan financed through a bond. The plan is structured to forgive debt and reduce interest, resulting in $450 million for the Galápagos Islands over the next 20 years. That money will fund an endowment for dedicated marine conservation.
One of the first steps is placing observers on at least 70% of purse-seine fishing vessels by the end of 2024 and on 20% of longline vessels by the end of 2025. Ecuador will electronically monitor fishing vessels and limit the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), which attract tuna but result in purse seiners scooping up massive amounts of nontargeted species as bycatch.
Perhaps the largest issue is China’s massive distant-water fishing fleet, which targets the waters surrounding the Galápagos. Tracking devices on these ships frequently appear to be disabled so they can go dark from public view, which almost always happens as the fishing vessels meet with refrigerated cargo ships to transfer their cargo at sea rather than returning to port to face regulation enforcement. There are often crew exchanges during these transshipments as well, creating concerns about human rights violations.
Oceana reported that 510 Chinese vessels fished for more than 134,000 hours between Jan. 1, 2021, and Aug. 31, 2023. These ships were all within 200 nautical miles of Ecuador’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), creating massive fishing pressure in the region and directly impacting the Galápagos. Unregulated fishing on this scale disrupts marine food chains and depletes fish stocks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has called out the Chinese fishing fleet for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activity and human rights abuses.
Oceana also reported that the United States imported more than $686 million of squid from China and Hong Kong over the past five years, much of it from these contested border waters. With treaties, regulations, and financing initiatives, enforcement may one day be possible within the marine corridor. As long as there is demand for calamari, however, there will be fishing, both legal and illegal.
Any diver who visits the Galápagos and enjoys the exquisite ocean environment should consider how FAD tuna fishing or the Chinese distant-water fleet targeting squid has a downstream effect on the Galápagos and changes the diving there.
I’m certain that without the huge demand for squid, there wouldn’t be 510 fishing vessels killing them, along with whatever else might otherwise make it another 200 miles to the Galápagos Islands, where an enforced MPA awaits. We can all take steps to help make this practice obsolete, and the hammerhead sharks, who also feed on squid, will thank us.
© Alert Diver – Q3 2024