Development of the Galápagos Marine Reserve

Abstract

The Galápagos Marine Reserve, declared 1998, was the result of a long scientific and political process, which spanned several governments, starting 1973 with the first management plan for the Galapagos National Park and the following biodiversity evaluation and conservation proposals by Wellington (1975). Discussions about governance, institutional jurisdictions, and compatible resource uses delayed the legal declaration of a marine protected area, until 1986, when a marine resource reserve was legally established. Until the final establishment of the Galápagos Marine Reserve, however, several initiatives for management planning and conservation failed due to lack of management capacity, interinstitutional agreements, and priority of the marine environment. Thus, even after the creation of the RRMG, new illegal fisheries for sea cucumber joined, increasing pressures due to industrial fisheries, shark finning, and overexploitation of coastal stocks of groupers and spiny lobsters. This recount was build after 40 years of scientific and advisory work experience in the Galapagos Islands, does not pretend to be objective and complete, and may be biased by the weight I have given to different actors and their roles in subsequent phases of development.