New marine sanctuary in the Galapagos will protect a variety of shark species

The Galapagos Islands are known globally as a rich area of biodiversity and the islands themselves have enjoyed 97% percent protection since they were declared a national park in 1959. However, despite the creation of a marine reserve in 1998 to protect the waters around the islands, some fishing has been permitted and less than 1% of these waters has complete protection.

Despite the fact that the marine park is closed to trawls and other high impact, commercial fishing activities, the artisanal fishing is still having an impact on populations of large predators. Owing to high demand, populations of key species are being depleted to unsustainable levels. In addition to this not all landings made within the marine reserve are declared, making the true numbers of species caught difficult to ascertain.

This is about to change however as on Monday the Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa Delgado announced a new marine sanctuary for The Galapagos. This new sanctuary will lie between Wolf and Darwin Islands and will cover a region of more than 15,000 square miles; unlike the current marine reserve, the new sanctuary will be completely off limits to any fishing activity.

The new marine sanctuary will mean that 33% of the waters around the Galapagos now enjoy complete protection from fishing. Happily it is predominantly sharks which have driven this change; the Galapagos Islands have been cited as having the greatest abundance of sharks in the world and the official announcement from the Ministry of Environment stated that the sanctuary had been created with the idea of protecting endangered species such as hammerhead sharks. Of course it is not just sharks that will benefit, the coral reef and fish in the marine protected area will also thrive under the new no-take policy.

Whilst declaring a marine sanctuary is only one part of the battle (see The Shark Post: Can a Marine Protected Area truly ever be protected?), this protection could not have come soon enough as many of the shark species which inhabit these waters are under threat; the scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewinin) is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List, whilst the Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus) and the Galapagos Shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis) are listed listed as Near Threatened. These species will all benefit from this new no-take area.

On his Twitter account, the Environmental Minister Daniel Ortega Pachero (@dvortega) said that the new marine sanctuary is a moral obligation to the Galapagos, Ecuador and the world. Very true words as the benefits of protecting areas of rich biodiversity like The Galapagos will indeed be felt throughout the world.

Sources: Ministerio de Ambiente
National Geographic
Elucidating fishing effects in a large-predator dominated system: The case of Darwin and Wolf Islands (Galápagos)