Galapagos fishing legal?

[Twotems]

A member sent me this in a PM and I just wanted to share. When the President of Ecuador (not some local official) is worried and is going to take action it carries a lot of weight. Those of us that expressed some skepticism on Merijo's and other threads as to the legality of fishing in the Galapagos were beaten down. Fair enough. But I think I'd rather believe the President in this case.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6543653.stm

Galapagos Islands 'facing crisis'

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has declared the Galapagos Islands, home to dozens of endangered species, at risk and a national priority for action.

The islands, Ecuador's top tourist draw, were suffering an environmental and social crisis, he said.

Mr Correa's call came as a UN delegation was visiting to see if the islands should be declared "in danger".

The Galapagos Islands were made a World Heritage Site 30 years ago for their unique plant and animal life.

"We are pushing for a series of actions to overcome the huge institutional, environmental and social crises in the islands," Mr Correa said, adding that these problems were the result of years of neglect by previous governments.

He did not detail the measures, but indicated Ecuador would consider suspending some tourism permits, Reuters news agency reported.

Outcry

The islands, located some 1,000km (620 miles) off Ecuador's mainland, are home to an array of species, including giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies and marine iguanas.

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About 20,000 people, working mainly in fishing and tourism, also live there.

The Galapagos Islands inspired naturalist Charles Darwin and helped him develop his theory of evolution.

Last month, several rangers of the ecological reserve in the islands clashed with members of the Ecuadorean Armed Forces over what the rangers say was illegal fishing in protected waters.

The incident provoked an outcry in Ecuador as it illustrated for many the practices which are damaging the site.

Mr Correa announced that a number of military officials had been suspended pending an investigation.

However, ecologists say the problems in the Galapagos run much deeper than the government has acknowledged.

They fear that a rapid increase in the human population and the gradual introduction of external species of flora and fauna are threatening the entire ecosystem on the islands.

Representatives of the UN's scientific, educational and cultural body, Unesco, have travelled to its research station on the Galapagos to inspect the state of conservation there.

Last month, a senior Unesco official warned of threats to the "fragile and delicate" ecology of the Galapagos.

[Captain Rich Adler]

The government wants to protect the endangered species, but still allows major longline operations??? And I thought that the NMFS was a mess!

[deskperado]

Here we go again!

[SKK]

This thread has been dormant for a while now. That's a pity because it's an important subject and one that is particularly close to my heart. You see I live in San Cristobal, Galapagos and I have a “recreational” fishing business.

“Sport Fishing”, at least by that name, IS still illegal. However, “Artisanal Vivencial Fishing”, when licensed by the Galapagos National Park IS legal. An AVF licence holder is permitted to take visitors fishing for Marlin, Tuna, Wahoo, Grouper, you name it. The visitors can also keep a reasonable amount of fish for personal consumption (all part of the “Vivencial” experience).

The Galapagos National Park’s own website may help explain this ambiguity:

“La pesca deportiva en la Reserva Marina de Galápagos está prohibida mediante Decreto Ejecutivo Nº 014 publicado en el Registro Oficial Nº 564.”

Roughly translated: “Sport Fishing is prohibited in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, further to Directive #014….”

However, it then adds:

“En su lugar, se ha desarrollado y aprobado la pesca artesanal vivencial, que es una modalidad demostrativa de la actividad pesquera con un enfoque turístico. En ella, los turistas acompañan al pescador para apreciar, de primera mano, el arte tradicional de la pesca en Galápagos.”

Roughly translated: In its place, Artisanal Vivencial Fishing has been approved and developed. This is a demonstrational and experiential form of fishing with an emphasis on tourism. Tourists accompany the fisherman to appreciate, first hand, the traditional art of fishing in Galapagos.”

See: http://www.galapagospark.org/program...vivencial.html

The above text is similar to that of the regulations themselves, which add the crucial provision (in Spanish of course):

“Only the artisanal fishermen of the Galapagos qualify to provide this service, which they do, subject to existing administrative rules.”

The basic idea is to ensure that benefit from this “new” industry stays in the Islands. Otherwise the Sport-Fishing industry would go the way of the rest of Galapagos tourism: monopolized by major offshore interests with less than 10% of the revenue generated flowing back to the residents.

So, if you want to fish in the Galapagos, you can do so, but ONLY with an operator that holds a valid licence to practise Artisanal Vivencial Fishing. In fact, the Galapagos National Park issues a licence to the qualified fisherman, and another to the specific boat. The boat also has to be licensed for fishing by the port authority (Capitania).

If you are considering a fishing charter in the Galapagos, I suggest you ask to see the operator’s licences. Some words of caution: don’t assume an operator is illegal just because he’s clearly not of the Islands: some offshore operators have partnered with local fishermen to provide “legal” service. Similarly, don’t assume that he’s legal just because he’s a local. If you want to see what these licences look like, we show ours on the Galeodan website at: http://galeodan.com/html/licences.html.
.

[Braden Galapagos]

Twotems:

I don't see what your post has anything to do with charters in the Galapagos. I live in Ecuador and run the first charter opertation that started it all 10 years ago in the Galapagos. Correa's concern was with the cruise ships and ilegal immigration to the Galapagos. It has absolutely nothing to do with those of us running charter operations.

Charter fishing is absolutely legal on licensed boats!

www.ecuagringo.com

[whalebreath]

Thanks to the operators on the ground/on the water in Ecuador for their input.

I fished Ecuador in the past (back when the Galapagos was closed) and was impressed with the country and it's fine people and hope to go back some day.

[Marlinhunter2]

Twotems:
Correa's concern was with the cruise ships and ilegal immigration to the Galapagos.

Ditto - cruise ships dump a lot of garbage off-shore - it eventually makes it's way to shore - somewhere.

[Jer]

Great informative post, SKK!

[Twotems]

This thread has been dormant for a while now. That's a pity because it's an important subject and one that is particularly close to my heart. You see I live in San Cristobal, Galapagos and I have a “recreational” fishing business.

“Sport Fishing”, at least by that name, IS still illegal. However, “Artisanal Vivencial Fishing”, when licensed by the Galapagos National Park IS legal. An AVF licence holder is permitted to take visitors fishing for Marlin, Tuna, Wahoo, Grouper, you name it. The visitors can also keep a reasonable amount of fish for personal consumption (all part of the “Vivencial” experience).

The Galapagos National Park’s own website may help explain this ambiguity:

“La pesca deportiva en la Reserva Marina de Galápagos está prohibida mediante Decreto Ejecutivo Nº 014 publicado en el Registro Oficial Nº 564.”

Roughly translated: “Sport Fishing is prohibited in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, further to Directive #014….”

However, it then adds:

“En su lugar, se ha desarrollado y aprobado la pesca artesanal vivencial, que es una modalidad demostrativa de la actividad pesquera con un enfoque turístico. En ella, los turistas acompañan al pescador para apreciar, de primera mano, el arte tradicional de la pesca en Galápagos.”

Roughly translated: In its place, Artisanal Vivencial Fishing has been approved and developed. This is a demonstrational and experiential form of fishing with an emphasis on tourism. Tourists accompany the fisherman to appreciate, first hand, the traditional art of fishing in Galapagos.”

See: http://www.galapagospark.org/program...vivencial.html

The above text is similar to that of the regulations themselves, which add the crucial provision (in Spanish of course):

“Only the artisanal fishermen of the Galapagos qualify to provide this service, which they do, subject to existing administrative rules.”

The basic idea is to ensure that benefit from this “new” industry stays in the Islands. Otherwise the Sport-Fishing industry would go the way of the rest of Galapagos tourism: monopolized by major offshore interests with less than 10% of the revenue generated flowing back to the residents.

So, if you want to fish in the Galapagos, you can do so, but ONLY with an operator that holds a valid licence to practise Artisanal Vivencial Fishing. In fact, the Galapagos National Park issues a licence to the qualified fisherman, and another to the specific boat. The boat also has to be licensed for fishing by the port authority (Capitania).

If you are considering a fishing charter in the Galapagos, I suggest you ask to see the operator’s licences. Some words of caution: don’t assume an operator is illegal just because he’s clearly not of the Islands: some offshore operators have partnered with local fishermen to provide “legal” service. Similarly, don’t assume that he’s legal just because he’s a local. If you want to see what these licences look like, we show ours on the Galeodan website at: http://galeodan.com/html/licences.html.
.

Fair enough, nice to know we can fish there with a clear conscience.

Twotems:

I don't see what your post has anything to do with charters in the Galapagos. I live in Ecuador and run the first charter opertation that started it all 10 years ago in the Galapagos. Correa's concern was with the cruise ships and ilegal immigration to the Galapagos. It has absolutely nothing to do with those of us running charter operations.

Charter fishing is absolutely legal on licensed boats!

www.ecuagringo.com

Just because he didn't specifically mention charters doesn't mean they couldn't be included in his measures. Anyway SKK explained it clearly above.

[SKK]

Thread is almost 3 years old and now you're responding?

Well, Yes. But it's not like I've been waiting 3 years to post a reply. I only saw it recently. Unfortunately I also joined this forum too late to read the earlier threads that you refer to:

Those of us that expressed some skepticism on Merijo's and other threads as to the legality of fishing in the Galapagos were beaten down.

I'm sorry I missed those ones. Sounds like it may have been a lively debate. Anyway, I felt compelled to join the debate, albeit belatedly, because as long as your post is "out there", people will read it. I'm not blaming you - It's very difficult to get to the truth on this issue. I live and breath it daily and it's taken me a while to figure it all out.

I appreciate that you have read and understood my response. Nonetheless, at the risk of flogging the issue to death, I just want to add just a few more words of context for everyone's benefit:

Those of us operating legitimate fishing charter businesses in the Galapagos have an uphill struggle because institutions like the Darwin Foundation and Galapagos National Park have so far neglected to update their most prominent "messages" to the public since back in the days when Sport-Fishing was illegal - by any name. Consequently, potential clients browsing the web are still met with a barrage of negative messages about the legality of fishing in the Marine Reserve. Sure, the GNP has a page on Vivencial Fishing, but it's only in Spanish and deeply buried in its website. The Darwin Foundation hasn't issued any sort of update as far as I can tell. And if I can't find it, how will any potential client.

Another obstacle is all the Park-trained guides who haven't done their homework and so continue telling the tourists that they can't fish here. However, the major tour-boat operators (the ones that are raking in 90% of the industry revenue) are the worst - they don't want their clients spending money anywhere else but with them and give passengers a real hard time if they want to fit some fishing into their itinerary.

Vivencial Fishing was created for the local fishermen. To give them a chance to do something more rewarding, and more conservative, than regular commercial fishing. If the initiative is to succeed, it will need all the help it can get - starting with the right sort of publicity and a clear message to the public that: "Yes - You can fish legally in the Galapagos Islands".
.