Almost all of the following research is either directly or indirectly associated with tourism and its impact upon the Galapagos Islands.

1. About 80,000 tourists visit the Galapagos Islands each year.
1. The islands are basically a chain of sea-flooded volcanoes.
2. Galapagos National Park regulations require that a naturalist accompany guests (a max of 16 people per naturalist).
3. The islands lie 600 miles west of the mainland (Ecuador).
4. 97% is part of the Galapagos National Park.
5. It is the world's second largest marine preserve.
6. About 20,000 people live in the Galapagos today.
7. The islands are mostly made up of fisherman and people who make a living off of tourism (guides, shopkeepers, and naturalists).
1. Most tourists head for Puerto Ayora.
8. The National Park is funded through a $100 entry fee by each tourist.
9. Visitors must be accompanied by a licensed guide.
1. The gov restricts animals, plants, and foods brought in.

Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia), September 12, 2004 Sunday City Edition, 2776 words, GONE TO GALAPAGOS/ SHIP TO SHORE: CUSHY BASE FOR ADVENTURES OF A LIFETIME, Story And Photos Jane Wooldridge/ Knight Ridder Newspapers, NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND, Galapagos, Ecuador
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=1cc3f96fd307c634f10af8ae20215ec0&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVb&_md5=ba103b4f1c35db278e427b9f66cc3c88

1. Rangers went on strike in 9/04 because of the overfishing of sea cucumbers.
1. The creatures are in danger of extinction on many parts of the archipelago.
   
2. There have been eight different park directors since the president took office in January 2003.
3. The park rangers are opposed to institutional instability and the exchange of an expert for a politician.
4. Several international scientific and environmental groups had already frozen funding to the park in anticipation of Mr. Naula (director who supported conservation) being forced out.
5. Fisherman want to raise limits on catches of sea cucumbers.
6. Shark numbers have dwindled because of the popularity of their fins in Asia.
7. Fisherman blockaded tourist routes and occupied national park offices and the Darwin Research Centre in June after the government limited the sea cucumber catch to four million in 2004.
8. In 1978, the Galapagos were declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

The Herald (Glasgow), September 15, 2004, Pg. 3, 988 words, Galapagos: Political evolution as rangers strike over new director;Island -wide protest after appointment of pro-fishing boss, Vicky Collins Environment Correspondent
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=394fa5c121511cc0b85a4397dc896a1b&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVb&_md5=42a060aa454eacd97bd0ed5e4f7be7d4

1. The number of visitors to the islands has increased from 3,600 in 1971 to about 66,000 a year now.
2. The rise in tourism has led to immigration from the mainland because of higher salaries which are, on average, about 50% higher.
3. The Galapagos gained national park status in 1959.
4. The islands are run by a committee of a dozen representatives from groups such as fisherman, local government, naturalists, boat operators, the Charles Station Research Station and farmers.
5. Visitors are told not to touch ANYTHING!
6. No flash photography, no stepping outside trail boundaries, and no food onshore.
7. About 45 landing sites for ships.
8. The gov has set total tourism capacity at 120,000 a year.  5 or 6 percent of this is in hotels and the rest stay onboard ships.
9. About 85 ships serving the islands
10. Whaling ships are really bad...
11. Giant tortoises are extinct on three islands.
12. The 40-nautical mile exclusion zone around the islands is the second largest in the world.
13. The sea cucumbers are kind of important as well...
14. Foreign pigs, dogs, cats, rats, horses, goats, and donkeys have hurt the ecosystem.
15. People are working on it...
1. through the intro of a quarantine system at ports and airports as well as roadblocks on the main islands.

Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland, March 29, 2004, Pg. 38, 1630 words, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: Animal magic
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=ad7f33c5a673f5c4be9bf773195fff44&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVb&_md5=bff37ec4de881508de4005df5639c40e

1. Fisherman with machetes took Galapagos researchers hostage to protest the closing of their fishing season.
2. Sea cucumbers are revered as aphrodisiacs in the far east.
3. The decline of the reptile population because of introduced rats should be more of a concern.
4. After protests from tour operators and scientists, the Ecuadorian gov halted the fishing season a month early.

Showdown in the Galapagos
Langreth, Robert. Popular Science. New York: May 1995. Vol. 246, Iss. 5; p. 20 (1 page)
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=5&did=000000001773474&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1098050480&clientId=5482

1. 2 oil spills (both handled poorly)
2. delay caused by Ecuadorian government's refusal to guarantee the US the $600,000 that they requested for the operation.
3. The state-owned company Petroecuador was more interested in recovering the fuel than anything else.
4. 60% of the marine iguana population on Santa Fe island in the Galapagos died.
5. It would be more practical to strengthen international shipping regulations to require better training in navigation and environmental science for the crews of oil tankers.

Troubled paradise
Francis Song. Harvard International Review. Cambridge: Spring 2003. Vol. 25, Iss. 1; p. 14 (2 pages)
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=1&did=000000332068261&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1098050480&clientId=5482



Harmful effects of boats:

To aid with sewage disposal, thousands of marinas now provide waste pumping stations for boaters, often for a nominal fee or as part of an overnight docking charge. Between 1977 and 2002, GAO estimates the number of U.S.-registered boats that would use such facilities has increased from 7 million to 13 million. The effects of raw sewage on coastal water quality are well known, with state and local health departments closing thousands of beaches each year because of water contaminated with fecal coliform and other pathogens and bacteria associated with human waste. Not all of the pollution is related to boats, however. Some pollution comes from land-based sewer systems that discharge into coastal waters and stormwater collection systems that that route polluted rainwater to streams, lakes and bays.

<>Greenwire, June 25, 2004 Friday, AIR, WATER & CLIMATE, 639 words, WATER POLLUTION: BOAT WASTE RECEIVES LITTLE GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT

 

Aquatic invaders can travel across the country by attaching
themselves to recreational fishing boats and around the globe
through ballast water, which ships use for weighting and balance
purposes. Once released into a new environment, these non-native
species often enjoy distinct advantages over the indigenous
species, potentially harming the environment. Without the
diseases, predators and other controls of their native
environments, displaced species can quickly out-compete native
species.

<>Land Letter, July 3, 2003, INVASIVE SPECIES; Vol. 10, No. 9, 1299 words, AGENCIES FOCUS ON PUBLIC INFORMATION TO THWART AQUATIC ALIENS



Pig Farming in the United States:

A typical hog factory farm has several metal barns, each containing hundreds to thousands of animals confined cheek to jowl. The animals may never see sunlight and spend their lives standing on slatted meal floors, beneath which their feces and urine are flushed. The manure is piped into open-air manure lagoons, where it is stored until it can be pumped out to irrigate fields. A lagoon may be the size of several football fields. Industrial-scale pig farming thus entails enormous increases in the concentration and quantity of manure generated at single sites. Because the scale of factory farms is so great, enormous quantities of excess manure are now being spread on farmlands, posing threats to drinking water and fisheries.  Runoff and spills from factory farms have precipitated water pollution disasters in many states. In Maryland and North Carolina, pollution from chicken and hog factory farms is believed to have contributed to outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida, a contaminant that kills millions of fish and causes skin irritation, short-term memory loss, and other cognitive problems in humans. Pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform bacteria can be 10 to 100 times more concentrated than in human waste. Another threat to water quality comes from ammonia, which causes algal blooms and fish kills. Ammonia released from feedlot lagoons and spray fields into the air can be deposited more than 50 miles away.  Factory farms also pose threats to air quality, They emit methane gas, a factor in global climate change (U.S. EPA estimates that methane emissions from livestock manure constitute about 10 percent of total emissions in the country), and hydrogen sulfide, which causes flulike symptoms in humans and, at high levels, leads to brain damage.

An Alternative: Free-Range, Family-Sized Farms

On traditional family farms, pigs live in spacious barns with straw bedding that absorbs manure, or they root about outside and leave their manure to decay in a pasture or open lot. The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has established a set of Pig Husbandry Standards that codifies these advantages, and an increasing number of small farms are subscribing to the AWI standards. The standards include the following requirements:

* Sows must be able to build nests, and pigs must be able to root, explore, and play.

* Well-managed pastures are recommended. When animals are sheltered in barns, they must be given straw or materials suitable to be used as bedding.

* Animal factory practices-such as intensive confinement of animals in crates and cages-are prohibited.

* Large-scale animal factory owners or operators who commit only a portion of their operation to humane management are not accepted into the program.

* The routine use of antibiotics to promote growth or productivity or to control or mask disease is prohibited.

* Each farm must be a family farm-one on which an individual or family owns the hogs, depends upon the farm for a livelihood, and participates in the daily physical labor of caring for the animals and managing the farm.

(Portions of this story are adapted, with permission, from America's Animal Factories: How States Fail to Prevent Pollution from Livestock Waste, a report developed by NRDC. For more information, please visit the NRDC Web site at <http://www.nrdc. org>.)

Alternative to pork factory farms garners support
Anonymous. Journal of Environmental Health. Denver: Oct 2002. Vol. 65, Iss. 3; p. 52 (2 pages)

Charles Darwin Foundation Sensors

Summary

            This describes the sensors that the Charles Darwin Foundation has already established on the Galapagos Islands and their system for gaining new knowledge on the well-being of the Galapagos ecosystem.  These include the Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Monitoring, GIS and GPS, SeaWiFS, and meteorological and seismological sensors.

            The Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Monitoring is a department within the Charles Darwin Foundation that is in charge of conservation science involving the land animals of the Galapagos Islands as well as general monitoring activities.  Their work is divided into four different categories:

1. introduced vertebrates and endemic mammals
2. birds (such as Darwin’s finches and Galapagos penguins)
3. reptiles (such as tortoises and iguanas)
4. general monitoring
• the collection of meteorological and seismic data and the development of the Galapagos Geographic Information system (GIS)

Introduced Vertebrates and Endemic Mammals

            This category includes work on the eradication of cats (specifically on Baltra Island, north of Santa Cruz), introduced frogs (Scinax quinquefasciata), rock doves (feral pigeons) on San Cristobal, and black rats (Rattus rattus) and rice rats (Nesoryzomys swarthi) on Santiago Island.

Birds

            The ornithology staff conducts annual surveys of Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants with funds mainly coming from SeaWorld.  Surveys have also been conducted of the critically endangered Floreana mockingbird.  The Floreana Mockingbird is vulnerable to black rats, introduced diseases such as avian pox, and the parasitic fly Philornis downsi.  Due to the damage that the fly can cause to Galapagos avifauna, the Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Monitoring has been checking landbird nests for Philornis larvae and has mapped its distribution.

Reptiles

            Work done with Galapagos reptiles involves conducting surveys of Galapagos land iguanas on Baltra Island, as well as conducting monitoring projects of giant tortoises by capturing or recapturing them and marking them.  This has been done on Alcedo Volano (Isabel Island).  The same has been done for land iguanas at Cartago Bay (Isabela) and at Cerro Dragon (Santa Cruz).

Monitoring

            Climatic monitoring occurs at the CDRS, Bellavista, Isabela stations.  Data is also collected at the Baltra and San Cristobal airports.  The department’s GIS program continues to develop.  It has produced Digital Elevation Models of Champion and Pinzon Islands which have been very important for conservation planning.

 

Sea Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor

            SeaWiFS is a program created by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as the Orbital Sciences Corporation.  It was first launched in September of 1997 and since then, it has been an important tool utilized by researchers to gain unique information of ocean processes through interpreting the color of the worlds oceans.

       Designed to monitor ocean physics, chemistry and biology from space, Sea Star represents a new generation of highly capable, low-cost satellites planned as part of NASA’s Mission to planet Earth. The SeaWiFS ocean-color sensor provides the fast, repeated global coverage required for advanced studies of marine phytoplankton, ocean surface currents, and global climate change. “From an orbit of 705 km above the earth it can collect more information in 10 minutes about the color of the worlds oceans than a boat could in 10 years” (Dr Gene Feldman, SeaWiFS program).

            The satellite orbits around the Earth and builds a complete picture of the different hues of the ocean.  This means that the satellite uses the picture of sunlight that comes off of the ocean surface.  Pure ocean water is deep blue but marine plants make the color greener because they absorb the blue light and reflect green light.  These plants mostly consist of phytoplankton.  Red light can also be created by scattering from atmospheric dust and haze and by land surfaces.

            Ocean-color observations from space let’s the CDF estimate the concentrations of these green algae over large and often remote ocean regions and permit the study of near-surface phytoplankton ”blooms”. Long-term ocean color data therefore help trace the movement of plankton in the surface currents, providing current mapping necessary for safe navigation at sea. The data can also be used to track the fate of river discharge, pinpoint fertile fishing grounds, and track water-borne pollution.

            Galapagos lie at the junction of three major influential currents that vary in strength and direction throughout the year (including the well documented El Nino effect). The properties of these currents and their seasonality are integral to the biogeography of the marine reserve, dictating the productivity of the surface waters and the species that live there, changing over small scales from day to day.

            The SeaWiFS data can be applied across a range of station initiatives from long-term programs such as the fisheries monitoring and development and evaluation of the marine reserve zonation scheme, to species level research.

 

GIS in Galapagos

            The Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) have participated in efforts to revive a moribund multi-institutional agreement to develop a comprehensive GIS (Geographic Information System) for Galápagos. GIS uses computerized databases and maps that permit the exploration, interconnection, and analysis of data through the superimposition of various types of information. GIS is helpful because it allows for easier analysis of environmental problems throughout the world.

            The Darwin Station has worked with many institutions to develop GIS Galapagos - the Geographical Information System for Galapagos.  Two areas have been especially important, the development of basic cartography and the incorporation of relatively cheap GPS receivers into the system.

Many CDRS and GNPS programs are now using GPS to record ecological monitoring data, and a connection has been developed between GPS data and the GIS programs that are currently in use. New monitoring methods have also been developed that combine GPS data with more classical sampling techniques to estimate and record the density of target species.  The Isabela Project also used the system to plan a series of monitoring trails on Wolf and Ecuador volcanoes from satellite imagery, which identified areas of high humidity and dense vegetation. The coordinates of proposed pathways were extracted from the imagery and passed to GPS units managed by personnel of the Isabela Project.  These trails went through previously unexplored terrain and this led to the discovery of some of the densest giant tortoise populations on the Galapagos Islands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meteorology Stations and Seismology Network

            In an agreement with the Ecuadorian National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, the Charles Darwin Research Station maintains and operates the two meteorological stations on Santa Cruz Island that form part of the National Meteorological Network. The Station’s database of climatic information covers more than thirty years.  To complete this task, volunteer students from various universities in the country are trained to handle meteorological data and they also produce a bi-weekly bulletin which is distributed to interested institutions on the Galapagos as well as on the mainland. Since August 1997, this group has been working in the Seismic and Volcanic Network of Galapagos, thanks to an interinstitutional cooperative agreement between the CDF and the National Polytechnic School in Quito. This network covers the central part of the archipelago and also continuously monitors signals emitted from the volcano on Fernandina, from Chico Volcano on Sierra Negra, Isabela Island, and from Santiago Island.

“Annual Report 2003.”  Charles Darwin Foundation.  http://www.darwinfoundation.org/downloads/ar2003ing.pdf

“GIS in Galapagos.”  Charles Darwin Foundation.  http://www.darwinfoundation.org/articles/n5900049808.html

Meteorological Stations and Seismology Networks.”  Charles Darwin Foundation.  http://www.darwinfoundation.org/articles/ar00040058.html

“Sea Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor in Galapagos.”  Charles Darwin Foundation.  http://www.darwinfoundation.org/marine/seawifs.html

“Technology in the Service of Ecological Monitoring.”  Charles Darwin Foundation.  http://www.darwinfoundation.org/articles/ar00040040.html

Massachusetts Institute of Technology