- Spanish explorers called them Las Encantadas, the Enchanted
Isles. Even today, these remote Pacific islands evoke images of an uncorrupted
paradise. But the Galapagos - as they are now known - may not survive as
an untarnished Eden for much longer. A series of devastating threats are
poised to destroy the islands whose unique iguanas, birds and giant tortoises
inspired Darwin to develop his theory of natural selection.
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- Unchecked population growth, poverty, corruption, greed
and tourism could soon overwhelm the World Heritage site that is home to
sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and other exotic creatures, say researchers.
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- 'Things are already slipping away,' says British-born
Godfrey Merlen, an environmental scientist who has lived on the islands
for more than 30 years. 'People's demands are simply too great for oceanic
islands like the Galapagos. Ideally no one should come here at all.'
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- But people are here and in considerable numbers. The
main port of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz island, housed just 45 inhabitants,
most of them fishermen and families, in the 1950s. By the mid-1970s, the
population had risen to 900. Today it stands at more than 10,000, many
of them refugees from the urban squalor of mainland Ecuador, owners of
the Galapagos. The total population of these tiny island refuges is more
than 19,000, and is growing by more than 6 per cent a year.
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- And these inhabitants are making their presence felt.
For a start, they are demanding greater access to the teeming seas that
are protected by a 40-mile exclusion zone placed around the islands by
the Ecuadorian government in response to pressure from the United Nations
and worried environmentalists. Many locals see no reason why they should
be forbidden from fishing in what must be some of the world's most bountiful
oceans. Last week, they blockaded one of the islands' main roads, and refused
to move until a Minister came from the mainland to speak to them.
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- The fact that enormous factory ships are anchored just
outside the islands' marine park, all prepared to pay locals up to 10 times
as much as they can obtain from selling a limited number of fish legally
and locally, only helps to concentrate their minds on their grievances
and encourages hundreds to fish illegally.
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- For their part, the Ecuadorian government has turned
a blind eye to many of these activities, and has ignored local fishermen
who catch protected sharks, fish and sea cucumbers and sell them to the
factory ships who in turn sell them as delicacies for inflated prices in
the Far East.
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- 'Everyone knows precisely who owns the factory ships,'
said Captain Fausto Pachelo who is joint skipper of Celebrity Xpedition,
a new cruise ship which takes rich Americans and Europeans to wonder at
the wildlife.
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- 'They come from Manta which has the biggest tuna fishing
fleet in South America. They even give the Galapagos fishermen boats and
encourage them to use them to fish offshore, then take their catch to the
big ships anchored outside the exclusion zone.'
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- More than five million sea cucumbers were removed from
the islands' waters in just two months recently. In addition, environmental
changes, such as the El NiÒo effect of 1998, have reduced the coral
reefs by a staggering 85 per cent. Lobsters are also in sharp decline for
similar reasons. And scientists also worry about the increasing use of
long line fishing which is devastating albatross and shark populations.
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- But it is the influence of man that is the most pervasive
threat. One former illegal shark fisherman explained how he had been forced
into the illicit trade in shark fins which are regarded as such a delicacy
in the Far East.
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- 'I was born in these islands,' said Juan Carlos Moncayo,
known locally as 'Macarone'. 'I love it here and want to preserve our way
of life. But I saw others coming in and making a lot of money. I just had
to get a new boat and new and more powerful engines. So when someone offered
me a lot of money straight away just to catch sharks, I agreed. It helped
me to pay off the loans.'
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- One day Moncayo was asked to help his 10-year-old daughter
Michelle with her homework. 'She asked me, in all innocence, why I was
killing sharks,' he said. 'It was such a shock. So I stopped, almost at
once.'
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- Since then Moncayo has set up his own scuba diving business
just outside the entrance to the Charles Darwin Centre near Puerto Ayora
and employs 10 locals.
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- But there are limits to how far tourism should be exploited.
Cafes, bars, hotels, shacks selling souvenirs, and even brothels have sprung
up. Along the main, newly paved, roads of Port Ayora, dozens of locals
queue to pay in money generated by their tourist enterprises.
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- Last year, about 92,000 visitors came to the islands.
Twice a day modern jets fly into Baltra, a rapidly developing airport,
and yachts, cruise ships and other vessels crowd into the harbour before
heading out to one of the 13 large islands, six minor ones and more than
40 islets that form the Galapagos.
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- Most are transported round the islands in luxury cruise
ships, shipped to shore by dinghies and then shepherded along trails by
specially trained and licensed guides. Routes are changed regularly to
ensure tourists never disturb particular colonies of animals too much.
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- It is not a typical vision of a pristine wilderness that
the name of the islands normally provokes. Nevertheless, controlled tourism
probably provides the Galapagos with their best hope for survival, though
the Ecuadorian government will have to change its ways. It has decreed
that each of the cruise ships that tour the islands must be owned by an
Ecuadorian company and at least 90 per cent of its crew must be from Ecuador.
That is not enough, say environmentalists. They must concentrate on the
needs of local residents.
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- 'It is up to the cruise lines to employ local fishermen
as waiters, cleaners, or whatever. Only in that way can they be turned
against the illegal attractions of fishing,' says Merlen. 'But at the moment
they employ people from the mainland and still ignore the locals. No wonder
they are turning to illegal activities just to maintain their lifestyle.
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- 'Ecuadorians themselves are profit seekers rather than
investors. If the Galapagos is to survive then everyone has to work together
and to have a vision and an ambition well beyond their own particular interests.
We must get people here on the side of conservation.'
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,13369,1174685,00.html
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