Floating ranger station to prevent shark finning in the Galapagos

One of the great challenges facing the Galapagos Islands is illegal fishing. Possibly the most shocking facet of this is shark finning.

Sharks’ fins have great value in certain parts of Asia so it is a tempting source of income for people in an essentially poor country like Ecuador.

Within the main body of the Galapagos Islands there has been only limited evidence of shark finning. The problem has been largely up in the very isolated islands of Wolf and Darwin where the shark, particularly hammerhead, population is greatest.

This October, after eight years in the planning, a floating ranger station has opened in the northern islands. They have called it “Tiburón Martillo” or “Hammerhead”.

The completion of the station and the technical development of its installations has been very much a cooperative effort between the Galapagos National Park, tour companies (most notably Ecoventura owners of boats Eric, Flamingo and Letty) and a long list of NGOs including the World Wildlife Fund.