2005 SEA CUCUMBER POPULATIONS STUDY LAUNCHED
In agreement with the 24 March, 2005 decision of the Participatory Management Committee, work has started on identifying sea cucumber populations, Isostichopus fuscus. Representatives of all the users of the Galápagos Marine Reserve are taking part including the fishing cooperatives of Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal and Isabela, the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation - CAPTURGAL is acting for the tourist sector.
Data gathering on the 2005 populations in the fished and non fished areas started between 3 - 6 April and it is hoped to move to the technical analysis by 15 April. The monitoring teams are working from two fishing boats: Tobby in the south of the archipelago (San Cristóbal, Floreana and Española) and the Santa Fe in the north and west (Fernandina and Isabela). The centre and north (Santa Cruz, Genovesa, Pinta and Marchena) are covered by the Park boat, Sierra Negra.
The permanent monitoring sites are: Española, Fernandina, Floreana, the west of Isabela, San Cristóbal and Santa Cruz, the fishermen have included additional sites to be monitored. It is hoped that data will be collected from at least 60 sites. These sites were identified during workshops with fishermen's cooperatives, the Park and the CDF.
It is important to remember that the Inter-institutional Management Authority (through Resolution 005-2004) imposed a two-year moratorium on sea cucumber fishing (2005 and 2006). This decision is conditional on:
- how healthy the resource looks after the populations study
- the design and short-term implementation of alternative forms of employment for the artisanal fishing sector of Galapagos
The decisions to be taken about when, and how long, to fish for sea cucumber and the management of fisheries in the Galapagos Marine Reserve depend on the monitoring data. The Participatory Management Committee uses this data on an annual basis to analyse populations of sea cucumber, the most interesting commercial species in Galapagos for the fishing sector.
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