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Galapagos Islands: Trouble in Paradise |
| October 12, 2004 |
By Jennifer Jacquet, AquaNews Correspondent
 | The cry of “Viva El Parque!” resounded from a throng of striking Park employees outside their headquarters in the town of Puerto Ayora.
Photo: WildAid |
The famed Galapagos Islands are home to the world’s second largest marine reserve, which protects scores of rare marine species that dwell in the Islands’ pristine waters.
Encompassing 133,000 square kilometres of ocean and 1,500 kilometres of coastline, the Galapagos Islands Marine Reserve also offers internationally acclaimed scuba diving where schools of hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and elusive whale sharks wander through the blue.
Despite their idyllic location more than 1,000 kilometres from the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands are no stranger to social and environmental issues. In years past, local fishermen intent on raising fishing quotas have resorted to violent protests, taking government employees and even giant tortoises hostage in order to make their demands heard.
Earlier this year, crowds of angry fishermen, calling for higher quotas in the lucrative sea cucumber fishery, smashed National Park Office windows, threw molotov cocktails at police and barricaded the entrance to the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station.
Most recently, however, it was the Galapagos National Park employees who made a statement. This September, the majority of Park employees went on strike for almost two weeks. The strike came after the Ecuadorian President’s decision to replace the Park Director, Edwin Naula.
Tired of the government destabilizing the Galapagos National Park for the sake of politics, many Galapagos Islanders were certain that the President’s decision was the result of upcoming government elections. Some park employees directly opposed the newly appointed Director, Fausto Cepeda, because of his close alliances with local fishermen.
“[Cepeda] has a strong political commitment to a group of politicians that is associated to the fishermen,” explained Fernando Ortiz, head of the Marine Reserve at the National Park. “We have been in permanent conflict with the fishing industry for quite a long while and the politicians have always been backing them up. Eventually, fisheries are going to collapse only because of that.”
As if to flaunt his close ties to the fishing sector, Cepeda violently took over Park headquarters on September 22 with help from local fishermen. The group broke through the line of striking Park employees, charged the Park’s front gate and helped Cepeda claim his office.
The next day, ten boats were found illegally fishing in a no-take zone within the Marine Reserve.
After this violent episode, the President of Ecuador relented under international pressure and the persistence of Park employees, appointing a new interim Park Director. The stability of the Galapagos Marine Reserve is temporarily assured - until the next fisheries fiasco.
The Galapagos Islands and Marine Reserve are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are visited by more than 90,000 tourists annually.
Source: Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre
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Jennifer Jacquet is a freelance writer and environmental economist. Her work focuses on open-access resources, particularly the dilemmas facing the marine environment.
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