Overfishing is when fish are caught faster than they can reproduce, reducing populations to unsustainable levels.
This can lead to the collapse of fish stocks, with knock-on effects across entire marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Galapagos is home to some of the most environmentally sensitive waters on the planet. New species of fish, shark and mollusc are still being discovered in the waters surrounding the Islands. This indicates that there may still be lots of other new marine species in the waters surrounding Galapagos that we have yet to discover. Overfishing in the waters surrounding Galapagos combined with changes to the marine climate has led to the destruction of the majority of the coral reefs in the Archipelago, many of which had existed for hundreds of years.
Although the Galapagos Marine Reserve offers sanctuary to marine species, huge industrial fishing fleets lurk just outside, threatening migratory species once they leave the safety of the Reserve. Animals such as sharks and albatrosses are ensnared by fishing lines with baited hooks that stretch for vast distances of up to 100 kilometres, a fishing technique known as long-lining which is notorious for high levels of ‘bycatch’. We are also seeing an alarming number of drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs)from tuna fleets washing up on Galapagos beaches and entangling and killing wildlife.
Some forms of overfishing, for example the overfishing of sharks, have led to the upset of entire marine ecosystems. Between 2009 and 2017, the Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) captured 19 illegal fishing boats in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. The waters surrounding the Islands are home to one of the highest concentrations of sharks in the world and they are usually the main target of illegal boats, harvested solely for their fins to fulfil the high demand for shark fin soup in Asia. In 2017, the GNPD captured an illegal Ecuadorian fishing boat which contained a total of 156 individual sharks, and a Chinese fishing boat which contained over 6,000 individual sharks.
Sea cucumbers have become targets for local fishermen, as these are also popular within the Asian market, famed for their supposed aphrodisiac or medicinal qualities. Due to the alarming decrease in sea cucumbers in the early 1990s, an Executive Decree enforced by the GNPD banned all fishing of sea cucumbers. The ban was then lifted and replaced with a quota, for both sea cucumbers and lobsters. Today, however, the waters surrounding Galapagos still contain low levels of sea cucumbers and lobsters. In addition, the removal of so many large predatory fish and lobsters from the Islands’ seas has led to huge numbers of sea urchins colonising the area. Subsequently, the sea urchins have overgrazed the coral, damaging it further and preventing it from re-establishing.
In order to counteract some of the damage done by the fishing industry, a marine reserve was established in 1986 by Leon Febrès Cordero. In 1998 it was expanded and officially named the Galapagos Marine Reserve, and in 2001, UNESCO expanded the World Heritage Site status of the Galapagos Islands to include it.
In March 2016, Ecuador’s then president, Rafael Correa, announced the creation of a new marine sanctuary, together with 21 smaller conservation areas scattered through the Archipelago. This sanctuary encompasses 40,000 km2 and extends around the northern islands of Darwin and Wolf, where the greatest concentration of sharks can be found.
This was followed by the creation in January 2022 of the Hermandad Marine Reserve, a crucial step towards protecting marine migratory routes that was based on years of science funded by GCT and our partners. This new reserve added 60,000 km² to the 138,000 km² of the original Galapagos Marine Reserve, and increased the total area of Ecuador’s ocean that is protected from 13% to 18.9%. The Hermandad Reserve includes a 30,000 km² no fishing zone and a 30,000 km² zone to the northwest of the original reserve boundary where long-lining is now banned.
GCT supports a number of projects that protect the marine biodiversity of Galapagos, including our Endangered Sharks and Rays of Galapagos programme, which focuses on protecting sharks and rays throughout their lifetimes.
Fish aggregating devices (FADs) are human-made objects used by both foreign fleets and Ecuadorian tuna boats to lure fish outside of the Galapagos Marine Reserve, so that they can then be caught.
Every year, globally, humans harvest 100 million individual sharks from our oceans.
Galapagos is one of the world's most important strongholds for sharks and rays, which we're working to protect from threats such as overfishing.
The Galapagos Islands are located in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, one of the richest marine ecosystems on Earth.
We are funding research to expand ocean protection around Galapagos and protect marine wildlife from damaging fishing methods.
With your support, we can restock the seas around Galapagos with abundant and healthy marine life.
