We try to keep this page as up to date as possible, however there is always some delay and it is worthwhile checking other sites with Galapagos News as well.
The following sites also have News about Galapagos:
http://www.darwinfoundation.org/english/pages/index.php
http://www.galapagospark.org/noticias.php
http://www.savegalapagos.org/news
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Galapagos News #30
The latest copy of Galapagos News is now available for download:
Galapagos News no. 30.pdf (2.3 MB) -
A new decade
A new decade is well underway - so I thought it worth reviewing a few of the existing conservation programmes in the Galapagos, and some of what was achieved so far.
It is easy to look at the problems and forget how much is being achieved. New Zealanders have played an important role in many of these programmes, and Friends of Galapagos will be focusing on channelling NZ expertise into them.
Conservation isn’t often about doing new and exciting and very different things. It’s about the continuing daily slog to keep programmes running, improve them, and slowly add to them. Stability and continuity are essential, and all too often staff in the Galapagos struggle to achieve that against a background of constant political change. That there have been relatively few major reversals is a reflection of that dedication.
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Quarantine
When I first visited the Galapagos at the beginning of the last decade, there was only a fledgling, relatively ineffective quarantine system. Since then they have become a core government function, built a public service agency (SESA) with purpose-built offices, and expanded from simple hand inspection to the use of x-rays. Although they still have some serious weaknesses (difficulty inspecting military and VIP traffic for example), my conclusion last time I looked at the system was that it had greatly reduced many of the most significant risks for Galapagos fauna at least.
Take the movement of birds, for example. Fighting cocks and other domestic birds were frequently brought in. Legal movements have now stopped, and smuggling is probably infrequent. That has slashed the risk of the introduction of bird diseases such as avian malaria and West Nile Virus. We only need to look at what happened in Hawaii when Avian Malaria arrived - most of the endemic terrestrial birds in the lowlands disappeared - to see what it would do to the Galapagos. And the Galapagos does not have highland refuges to minimise the damage.
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Pest eradications
Ten years ago no-one in the Galapagos thought that major pest eradications were feasible. Today they can look back on the largest goat eradication in the world, eradication of several plant species (something many international commentators still say can’t be done), eradication of cats from Baltra, eradication of a fire ant population on Marchena, and rat eradications. Those eradications have not only provided new opportunities for conservation, but have built confidence and enthusiasm for eradications as a core tool. I am sure we will see more eradications over the next decade.
This trend is not restricted to the Galapagos, and their experts are now sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with other island groups. Two Galapagos experts were invited to participate in the recent workshop on the Juan Fernandez Islands in Chile, and Galapagos projects will be presented at the February international eradication conference in Auckland.
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Rare species management
The number and scale of rare species management programmes has increased over the last decade. The Charles Darwin Foundation has taken a lead role, but this is being increasingly “mainstreamed” into Ecuadorean institutions.
Although Lonesome George still hasn’t quite managed to father a fertile egg, other captive breeding programmes have been highly successful. The focus has expanded from a few large charismatic animals to a wider range of species, including recent work to encourage the propagation of rare native plants. In-situ work has also expanded, covering more areas, more species, and more techniques and responding to the opportunities opened up by eradications.
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Sustainable management of the population
The human population explosion has been the most worrying trend over the last 20 years. The special legislation supposedly restricted immigration, but it was only in the last year that INGALA (the agency responsible for immigration control) finally began to enforce these provisions.
But progress was made in some areas to reduce the impact of all those people - in relation to energy use, rubbish disposal, agriculture, etc. One exciting development was an indigenous NGO - Fundar - devoted to sustainable development. We will be maintaining close links with them, particularly to encourage NZ volunteers to support their work.
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Community Support
A problem that is created by immigration is the fact that most people are new to the islands, have never been into the national park (other than to walk through it to the beach) and are only there because they hope to get a good job to support their family. But there are very active and successful programmes to build public support for conservation - school visits, TV and radio programmes, community committees and programmes.
One example of how successful those programmes can be is the quarantine system. This is the conservation programme that has the greatest negative effect on ordinary residents - they can’t bring in those lovely fruit their aunty gave them when they went back to Guayaquil, or import a new fighting cock. But public awareness campaigns have built a very high, positive public profile for SICGAL, and a high tolerance for quarantine measures.
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Galapagos Revisited
Our Chairman, Julian Fitter, has recently returned from a trip to Galapagos. This is a report on his travels.
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Galapagos News # 29
The latest copy of Galapagos News #29 is now available for download:
Galapagos News no. 29 (1.1 MB) -
AGM
We had another successful AGM on 28 September- this year at the Unitec campus in Auckland. Thanks to all those members who were able to attend.
The AGM business was completed very quickly, and we were then able to enjoy Tui de Roy’s presentation. Tui talked about how she came to be in the Galapagos, and her perspectives as a wildlife photographer, with the talk illustrated by her world-class photos.
Those present had a chance to purchase signed copies of her latest book, ‘Galapagos, Preserving Darwin’s Legacy’. We are now offering this book and others for sale. A flyer will go out with our newsletter this week and we hope to have them for sale via the website in the hear future.