Although he earns his living in protected waters around Ecuador’s famous Galapagos Islands and is a fisherman, Pedro Asensio has doubts about the expanded marine reserve that his country created last month.
“What for? Asensio (48) sat on a bench at Puerto Ayora’s market for fish. Asensio was born in Santa Cruz Island’s 15,000-person municipal capital. He is one of 460 fishers that live within the 40 nautical mile area of the first Galapagos Reserve.
The first reserve is only allowed for small-scale, manual fishing by Galapagos residents. It was established in 1998 and covers 138,000 km2. The additional 60,000 square kilometers (23,170 square miles) added last month https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ecuador-expands-protected-marine-area-around-galapagos-islands-2022-01-14 is the first step in a plan by Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama to create a migration corridor between protected areas for species threatened by climate change and industrial fishing.
Fishing is prohibited in half the reserve. In the other half, lines with multiple hooks (known locally as palangre) are prohibited. However fishermen can use manual techniques like scuba dive to catch lobster. Environmentalists believe that the expanded reserve will help to protect critically endangered species, such as turtles and whale sharks.
Locals believe enforcement is wrongly focused upon them and not commercial vessels, including a 300-ship fleet coming from China, which anchor in international waters around the islands. Asensio stated, “At the 40 mile mark we have encountered boats from all nations that enter – even Ecuadorean commercial boats.”
Mateo Gil (28), a fellow fisherman, stated that they leave the bay and the navy comes on them asking for papers. After the 2017 seizure and confiscation of Fu Yuan Yu Leng 99, a Chinese vessel carrying 300 tonnes of illegal fishing spoils including endangered hammerhead sharks, the campaign to expand the reserve began.
The ship’s owners were fined $6.1million and the captain and crew received up to three years imprisonment. Galapagos scientists and residents joined together through the Mas Galapagos group to push for stricter marine species protections, and fishing restrictions in the 200-mile sovereign area around the islands.
“The (previously established) marine reserve has been very effective in protecting coastal species, principally. Eliecer Cruz, Mas Galapagos biologist said that species on the brink of extinction, such giant turtles were saved. He also stressed that protecting migratory species is crucial. Illegal and unsustainable fishing practices are, along with climate change, the top threat to the marine reserve, according to Mas Galapagos studies http://www.masgalapagos.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Prop-OrdEspacialZEEInsular-0121-1.pdf.
According to Galapagos national park figures, 136 illegal Ecuadorean industrial fishing boats were intercepted in reserve between 2018 and 2020. BUOYS & NETS
There are also foreign boats that continue to be involved in illegal practices. In 2020 Ecuador’s then-defense minister said half of a mostly Chinese-flagged fleet of some 342 ships parked on the edges of the exclusive economic area had turned off their location systems https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-environment-china/ecuador-says-some-chinese-vessels-near-galapagos-have-cut-communications-systems-idUSKCN25E2XI, making tracking impossible and prompting former President Lenin Moreno to warn the Chinese government that Ecuador would enforce its maritime rights.
Cruz, biologist, said that so-called “nanny ships” hover just outside the reserve and send smaller boats into restricted waters. Other techniques, such as buoys with large amounts of underwater netting attached, can be deadly for endangered species.
Cruz said that fishing regulations could solve all this by requiring all ships to have an electronic tracking device or satellite. The buoys with netting are sold by Galapagos fishermen for as high as $30 when they are found.
Eddy Fabricio Asensio (28), who is Pedro Asensio’s nephew, said that “they take our resources”. Eddy just returned from a 10-day visit to Marchena Island.
“Ten years ago, you could find good fishing near by. You have to learn more. Ecuador’s government stated that it is confident in the existing satellite infrastructure.
“The plantados’ are a legal method of fishing. They may cross our borders and then move on to other areas. We cannot control this, but we can detect it and go out to confiscate them,” stated Gustavo Manrique, Environment Minister. Manrique stated in mid-January that no foreign vessel had entered Ecuadorean waters illegally fishing for nine months. This was at the inauguration the expanded reserve.
The four countries involved in the new corridor met with the United Kingdom’s Environment minister at the end January. He announced a 2million pound contribution to the reserve. Puerto Ayora’s naval captain Carlos Vallejo stated that enforcement challenges are numerous, not only for the reserve, but also further afield.
He stated that it is not 198,000 kms in area, but 1.09 million kilometers of maritime jurisdiction. A boat from Santa Cruz Island takes two days to reach the edge the exclusive economic zone.
Vallejo stated that the navy has not received any reports of unauthorized vessels in the 40-mile reserve and that its monitoring systems haven’t detected any industrial vessels in those waters. However, he advised fishermen to report any industrial ships they see. Vallejo stated that if such a ship was detected, the crew would be arrested. They would then be handed over to national park and legal authorities.
(This story is not edited by Devdiscourse staff.