Fishing the Galapagos

The Galapagos archipelago is a group of volcanic atolls belonging to Ecuador. It is renowned for giving Charles Darwin some early insights into the mechanism of evolution. The waters of the Galapagos are nutrient rich, influenced by a mixing of warm and cold currents. These conditions attract migratory, ocean-going species, including squid, fish, turtles, dolphins, Sea lions, Galapagos fur seals and albatross. This (and the presence of the unique Marine Iguanas on the islands?) resulted in the creation of the Galapagos Marine Reserve. The Reserve is more than 130 square km but fishing pressures have led to a government proposal, to possibly increase its size to almost 446 square km. As one might expect, this has stirred controversy (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/12/galapagos-marine-reserve-plan-ecologists-ecuador-fishing-industry). The one thing that fishing industries rarely admit, is that they are attracted to marine reserves. The reserves boost the numbers of the species that they want to catch. Generally,however, fishermen still lust for the species in the protected areas and hate the idea of reserves being expanded. This is even, if expansion would further boost populations. The current Galapagos Marine Reserve is under intense pressure. Around 250 Chinese fishing boats, along with their refrigerated container ships, circle it. These boats fish for more than 70,000 hours per month, extracting thousands of tonnes of fish and squid. Local tuna fishing boats (it's a lucrative Ecuadorian industry) also operate around the islands. Some (not all) of the boats use floating Fish Aggregration Devices (FADs) to try to entice fish out of the protected area. The FADs have GPS tracking devices and nets that hang down up 100 metres. Larger fishing boats can liberate up to 500 of these devices which are locally known as plantados. FADs are associated with bycatch which can be especially problematic for the conservation of endangered species. Many of Ecuador's Tuna fishing interests strongly oppose the proposal to extend the protected area, citing economic factors. It is hoped that some accommodation for the plan will be found. Our seas need more, not less, protection. Overwise, eventually there won't be a fishing industry.