Transcript Charles Darwin Foundation partner report

WP2 Shifting Baselines
RESEARCH REPORT
“Fisheries Resources of the
Galapagos Marine Reserve”
Mauricio Castrejón
Charles Darwin Research Station, Galapagos , Ecuador
Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR)

Archipelago composed by 15 islands and
approximately 106 islets

High level of endemic organisms and a wide
range of marine and terrestrial habitat

A UNESCO world heritage site established in
2001 covering 138,000 km2
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Multi-use marine reserve
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There is a human population of ca 30,000
individuals
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Inhabited islands : Santa Cruz, San Cristobal,
Isabela, Floreana and Baltra
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Affected by natural (“El Niño”) and
anthropogenic impacts (fishing, tourism, etc.)
A unique situation….
The confluence of currents let cold water
species like penguins co-exist with tropical
species such as reef coral
The challenge is how can we differentiate between the
effects of climatic variability (“El Niño”) and human
activities (fishing, tourism, etc.) over populations
communities and ecosystems
Coastal Zoning of the GMR

In 2002, a coastal zonation scheme (CZ)
was established to regulate the human use
of the GMR, to avoid conflicts between
stakeholders, and to protect the high
biodiversity sites

Currently, 18% of the total area of the
GMR is No-take zone

An ecological monitoring system was
established to evaluate the efficiency of the
CZ

The CZ has not been properly implemented
by authorities (GNPS) and is not respected
by fishermen
History of Galapagos Fisheries

The fishing activity started with the hunting of whales and sea lions in the
nineteenth century

The industrial fishery was developed in the 1940s with longline and purse-seine
fleets from Japan, EEUU, Panama and Costa Rica whose main target species were
tunas
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In 1970, an Ecuadorian industrial fleet begin to operate exclusively in Galapagos

The industrial fishery was totally excluded from the GMR when the Special Law
of Galapagos (SLG) was approved by the Ecuadorian government in 1998

The SLG extended the area of the Marine Reserve from 15 to 40 miles and since
then only the artisanal fleet has exclusive rights to operate in the GMR
Galapagos Artisanal Fishery

In 1964, the number of artisanal fishermen
was of ca. 200 individuals

Currently, there are over 1000 registered
fishers organized in 4 fishery cooperatives

526 fishers (≈53%) live on San Cristobal. The
remainder are divided between Isabela and
Santa Cruz

The fleet is composed of 148 fiberglass and
231 wooden small boats (3-10 m) and 67 big
boats (8-17.5 m)

The most common fishing method is hooka
diving (the diver breathes from a hose
connected to an onboard compressor)

Nowadays, the most important target species
are sea cucumber and spiny lobster (both of
which are showing signs of severe depletion)
The Sea Cucumber Fishery
(Isotichopus fuscus)

Main fishery of the GMR over last decade
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High price and demand in Asian markets

The fishery started illegally in 1991
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The first legal fishing season (1994) was
followed by 5 years closure and restarted
in 1999
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Spatial-temporal closures, TAC,
minimum legal size, limit reference
points
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Probably a total closure to be established
for 2006 (stock collapsed)
The Fishery of Spiny Lobsters
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Second most important fishery

Two species are exploited: red
(Panulirus penicillatus) and green
(P. gracillis) spiny lobster

The fishery started commercially in
the 60´s

In the 80´s there was an increase in
fishing power when “hooka” began
to be introduced

Spatial-temporal closures, minimum
legal size, limit reference points,
catch of ovigerous females banned

Lobster stock is over-exploited
Pelagic Fishery (Pesca Blanca)

One of the first and the most traditional
fisheries in the GMR
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Catch is composed approximately by 70
finfish species
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Main target species: Mycteroperca olfax,
Mugil galapaguensis, Xenomugil Thoburni,
Thunnus albacares, T. obesus, Epinephelus
mystacinus and Acanthocybium solandri
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The main fishing methods are hook and
line and gillnets
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Lack of management measurements
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Very few studies about the dynamics of the
resource and fishery
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The status of the stocks is unknown
Participatory Programme of Fisheries
Monitoring and Research (PIMPP)
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In 1997 the systematic collection of fishery and biological data for all exploited
species of the GMR began
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The monitoring is led by the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the
Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS)

In 2004 the monitoring of finfish and other minor resources (octopus, chitons,
gastropods) ended due to lack of funding
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Since 2005 the monitoring has been focused only toward the sea cucumber and
spiny lobsters fishery
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In February 2006, the finfish monitoring has been restarted
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Annual assessment of levels of catch, fishing effort, CPUE, percentage of illegal
individual in catch, mean size
Fishery Monitoring

Fishery-biological data are collected by members GNPS, by local students, and
by local or international volunteers of the CDRS

Data are taken at the three main ports of Galapagos: Puerto Ayora (Santa
Cruz), Baquerizo Moreno (San Cristobal) and Villamil (Isabela)
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Additionally, a fishery observers system has been implemented since 1997
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Most data of catch, effort, size, weight and sex (only lobster) collected are
spatially explicit

Data are stored, under a My-SQL format, in three databases (one for each main
port) located at the CDRS´ installations

Databases are composed by 34 tables and jointly contain more than 50,000
records of catch-effort and 100,000 of biological data
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The GNPS administers another database with catch and effort data
Independent Surveys

Population monitoring is carried out before
and after each sea cucumber and lobster
fishing seasons since 1999
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The stakeholders provide economic or human
resources to carry out the monitoring

Assessment of densities and populations
structures around the archipelago
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Permanent sampling sites have been
established in 6 islands for sea cucumber and
in 3 for spiny lobster
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Tagging studies (spiny and slipper lobsters)
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Oceanographic and ecological (subtidal)
community monitoring at over 300 sites with
seasonal repetition
Research so far…..

Catch, effort and biological data belonging to the two last lobster and sea
cucumber fishing seasons have been collected, systemized and “cleaned”

The 2005 pre and post harvest population monitoring of sea cucumber and
lobster have been carried out
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A new monitoring system with close participation of fishers in data collection
was recently implemented for the last lobster fishing seasons

Catch, effort and biological data of lobster collected in the 70´s were recovered
and systemized (thesis of Dr. Gunter Reck)

A new project, funded by the Tinker Foundation, will start in March and part of
it will be focused on collating the traditional ecological knowledge of the main
fisheries resources
Next steps

Carry on the “cleaning” stage of catch, effort and biological data of sea cucumber,
lobster and pelagic fisheries from the time period 1997-2002

Through fishers interviews, obtain information related to past catch and effort rates
of the main fishery resources

Investigate if other information sources such as theses, technical reports and
independent fishery surveys data carried out by government institutions (such as the
National Fishing Institute) exists

Long term analysis of spatial-temporal variation in fishery effort allocation for the sea
cucumber and lobster fishery (collaboration with Dr. Omar Defeo from CINVESTAV,
México)

Compare spatial-temporal shifts in the catch composition of the pelagic fishery in
order to evaluate potential impacts of fishing over fish assemblages