Interview with Felipe Cruz, Director of Project Isabela
1. In October 2001, you talked to our members about Project Isabela, the ambitious project you are running for the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation. Work started in 2002. What is the current situation?
The staff of Project Isabela have been working on the eradication of goats and introduced plants on Santiago, which has given us valuable experience to be applied on Isabela. By doing this work, we have made excellent use of funds and achieved two very different goals: we are restoring the biodiversity on Santiago (which was not foreseen in the Project Isabela budget) and we are testing new techniques as we train for the work on Isabela which will start at the end of 2003. In the meantime, we continue on Santiago.
2. With our Christmas mailing, we asked our members to support the hunters by financing the 'boots' for their dogs. Our appeal was heard: up to now, the Swiss FOGO has raised over SFr. 21'000. How are the dogs doing so far?
We are very proud of our dog training and breeding programme. The dogs are doing extremely well, they soon learnt to wear boots while working on lava, their feet are not damaged and they can work everyday. The dogs are one of the best tools for finding goats when the goat densities are low. At the moment that is the situation on Santiago and the hunters are still effective, thanks to the dogs. We have a total of 60 adult dogs and 6 puppies (2 weeks old) and another litter is on the way!
3. Are other Friends of Galapagos organisations (FOGO's) supporting Project Isabela?
In general, all the FOGO's are supporting the Project and we are extremely grateful to all of you. This work is vital for the conservation of the Galapagos Islands and without your support we can't do it!
4. What has the hunting achieved? How many goats have been eradicated?
During the first three months of the year, there have been five trips to Santiago with 75 days in the field. 2,657 goats have been eliminated from the island. Goat densities are low and dropping.
5. Did you have any unexpected, unpleasant incidents?
Unfortunately - due to the vegetation growth now that there is less grazing on a daily basis - the hunters can't see the rocks and for every trip we have had one or two "scraped knees". Some of those accidents needed surgical intervention. No other unpleasant accidents, thank God!
6. Besides sending individual hunters to shoot the goats, you plan to bring helicopters into action. Could you give us more details?
Since the Isabela campaign will use aerial hunting as a way to knock down the goat population fast and since the helicopters will be available, we plan to use them on Santiago as well, investing a total of 50 flying hours. With that amount of flying time, we'll reduce our hunting effort on Santiago by two years! Basically, at the end of this year, we will be ready to start the monitoring phase on Santiago to make sure we have removed all the goats.
7. How much will this cost?
Taking into account that the cost of bringing the helicopters and their crews to the islands has already been covered, the price is very cheap: $55,000 for 50 flying hours. Please bear in mind that this is for helicopter time only. The cost of the whole Santiago campaign is far more!
8. When do you think Project Isabela will be completed?
Project Isabela will be completed in 2006, when we'll be able to tell the world that northern Isabela is free of introduced goats and that the tortoises, plants and other endemic organisms will have a better chance of long-term survival.
We are very grateful for your support and we hope it will continue until we successfully complete the Project. On behalf of all the hunters and their dogs, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
..Top
|
