Subject: Galapagos crisis summary (fwd)
Date: Feb 3 12:40:52 1995
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>Date: Fri, 03 Feb 95 10:35:28 EST
>From: Skip_Russell at intersolv.com
>Encoding: 120 Text
>Message-Id: <9501037918.AA791847431 at SMTPGwy.INTERSOLV.COM>
>To: DPaulson at ups.edu
>Subject: Galapagos crisis summary (fwd)
>
> Reply to: RE>>Galapagos crisis
>GALAPAGOS CRISIS:
>
>SCIENTIFIC PERSONNEL AND ENDANGERED ANIMALS HELD HOSTAGE
>
>CHARLES DARWIN RESEARCH STATION AND GALAPAGOS NATIONAL
>PARK SERVICE HELD HOSTAGE BY ARMED FISHERMAN
>
>-News from Conservation Network International. January 31, 1995
>
>Masked fisherman (calling themselves Pepineros/or sea cucumber
>collectors) armed with clubs and machetes, seized control of the
>properties of the Charles Darwin Research Station and Galapagos National
>Park Service boat, on Tuesday, January 3, 1995, in the community of
>Puerto Ayora, Galapagos. The launch for the CDRS was sunk and access
>to/from the airport was cut off by the vindictive pepineros. The seizure
>lasted three days.
>
>CDRS and Park personnel were confined to buildings. Those who live
>within the Park and Station campuses were rarely allowed to leave. In
>effect the two institutions, their staffs, the facilities and the
>breeding groups of giant tortoises and land iguanas were held hostage in
>a World Heritage Site. Apart from a broken arm and an unexploded bomb in
>a Park Service, the level of violence has not yet attracted the attention
>of the international press. However, those who realize what is at stake
>recognize that if the Ecuadorian government continues to submit to the
>black market demands of these fisherman, the world will lose the largest
>virgin island (Fernandina) in the world, as well as the last significant
>population of Hammerhead sharks.
>
>In recent months, Conservation Network International (CNI) has confirmed:
>
> -$1billion Sucres (~$40 million US) were transferred thru the two
> Galapagos banks. One fisherman cashed a US$ 50,000 check.
> -Uncontrolled fishing boats are harvesting everything marketable from
> the sea floor. The fisherman continue to cut mangroves for fuel to
> boil their catch and there are floating brothels for entertainment.
> -Fishing boats carrying chickens, dogs, and inevitably rats and mice are
> pillaging the coasts of western Isabela and Fernandina Islands.
> -An "experimental" sea cucumber fishery and a shark fishing industry
> were endorsed by the government on June 23, 1994. A limit of 550,000
> sea cucumbers was set by the authorities. No means of regulation was
> established and an estimated 6 - 10 million were taken before the
> government finally tried to stop the "experiment".
> -The reason for the violence and hostage situation is that the
> fisherman are demanding the reopening of the sea cucumber fishery.
>
>The crisis has now entered a dramatic level of exploitation while the
>current border dispute between Peru and Ecuador is attracting attention
>away from the crisis in the Galapagos.
>
>Due to the political and socio-economic pressure, The Darwin Foundation
>has been unable to forcefully denounce and combat the environmental
>travesty that has developed. Conservation Network International, Inc. was
>formed as a non-profit organization in July, 1994, to oppose a series of
>commercial fisheries in the Galapagos.
>
>WHAT YOU CAN DO:
>
>1. Write a letter to the President of Ecuador
>
>Pres. Sixto Duran Ballen
>Garcia Moreno 1043
>Quito, Ecuador
>
> With copies to:
>
>Lic. Armando Espinel
>Ministerior de Informacion y Tourismo
>Quito, Ecuador
>
>Ab. Gustavo Gonzales
>Subsecretario de Pesca
>Guayaquil, Ecuador
>
>Lic. Jorge Barba
>Director INEFAN
>Quito, Ecuador
>
>Sr. Director
>Diario EL COMERCIO
>Quito, Ecuador
>
>Sr. Director
>Diario EL UNIVERSO
>Guayaquil, Ecuador
>
>Lic. Arturo Izurieta Valery
>Intendente del Servicio Parque Nacional Galapagos
>Puerto Ayora
>Islas Galapagos
>Ecuador
>
>2. Call your travel agent and any journalists who might be interested in
>this issue and feel free to refer them to Conservation Network
>International.
>
>3. Support the efforts of Conservation Network International to expand
>our publicity campaign and stop the exportation of shark fins and sea
>cucumbers from the Galapagos.
>
>Conservation Network International will continue to support the local
>Galapagos naturalists who are now risking their lives to stop the
>exploitation. CNI has no employees and all contributions are invested
>directly for the cause. Our intentions are to stop the exploitation of
>all marine resources from the Galapagos and do what ever is necessary to
>insure the long term preservation of this world heritage site and the
>last significant population of Hammerhead sharks.
>
>Conservation Network International, Inc.
>Jack Grove, President
>146 N. Sunrise Drive
>Tavernier, Florida 33070
>Tel/Fax 305-852-6004
>
>PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED!!
>
>
>
>
>

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416