NEARLY 19,000 SEA CUCUMBERS CONFISCATED
Park Wardens from Santa Cruz and Isabela confiscated approximately 19,000 sea cucumbers (Holothuria atra) last weekend. As they approached Santa Rosa, to the south of Isabela, a legally licensed boat - the Nathaly - realised that they were park wardens and started to run away. The Park Wardens gave chase and caught them up at a place called El Finado. When the Park Wardens boarded the boat they found nothing out of order.
However, when the Park Wardens returned to Santa Rosa and inspected the area, they found an illegal camp with industrial cookers, gas cylinders, barrels and thousands of dead sea cucumber. The Park Wardens informed the Isabela office and the sea cucumbers are being held by the Ecuadorian navy who counted 18,788 sea cucumbers.
The majority of Galapagos fishermen respect the ban on sea cucumber fishing agreed by the AIM (the governing body for the Galapagos Marine Reserve consisting of all the stakeholders) but the Galapagos National Park have stated that they will continue working to ensure that a small minority of irresponsible fishermen do not break the regulations.
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