The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park believes that working for the recovery of these resources requires that the science and conservation sector and the fisheries join forces and regulate permitted fishing in the fisheries of the archipelago.

In the Galapagos Marine Reserve, the pressure on some fish stocks has disrupted the natural reproductive cycles of species such as the sea cucumber and spiny lobster or chinese shrimp, endangering the future sustainability of the resource and causing yet unknown impacts on their ecosystems.

Aware that regulation and restrictions are not sufficient tools for the care and protection of marine biodiversity, initiatives are being promoted for a capture and process that allows the artisanal fishing sector in Galapagos to continue working at sea, trying to find the way where care and protection of aquatic ecosystems is fully compatible with responsible resource extraction and guarantees a profitable way of life and for Galapagos artisanal fishermen.

One of the most widely accepted alternatives to date has been the implementation of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs).

What is an FAD? What is it for?

This is a fixed buoy placed on the high seas that attract schools of fish.

They are used in many other fishing areas of the world because of the benefits for artisanal fishermen in terms of fuel savings, lower investment risk prior to fishing and above all for the type of species that it attracts; migrating fish can enter and exit the GMR in search of food sustainability without being affected by fishing pressure.

The fishermen make and use the FADs because they know that some fish are easily caught in the vicinity of floating objects like sticks, leaves, palm branches, jackets, buoys, wrecks and oil rigs.

No one knows exactly why fish get close to FADs, but it is thought that the first to arrive are small fish, and then come the bigger fish to feed on them.

	LOCATION OF FADs in THE GALÁPAGOS MARINE RESERVE Click the map to see the location of Fish Aggregating Devices in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

It is also possible that big fish are attracted to FADs and other floating objects because they are the only things they see in the middle of the ocean.

Another possibility is that the small fish come to the FAD to hide from the greater fish and eat algae, other plants and small animals that grow on it, another more recent theory say the FAD function as a meeting place for large schools of fish before they begin a long migration.

The fish do not stay all the time around the FAD; they come and go at different times of the day. They usually come at sunrise and sunset.

After some time, some fish remain almost constantly in the vicinity of the FAD, which thus becomes a kind of fishery where fisherman will find fish every time.

Without the FADs, fishermen often observe schooling fish, or many loose fish constantly moving but hard to capture, one day in one place and the next day in another very distant location; they may be around for a few days, disappear and then return to the same place.

This means that using an FAD, it's possible to catch more fish from the same school. The fishermen will not have to waste time and fuel in searching for schools of fish, but can go directly to the FAD and capture them. The time saved can be used to increase the catch or in gear and boat repair.

Strategic Objectives

With the implementation of the FADs in the waters of Galapagos, the DGNP establishes eight clear objectives:

1. Diminish fishing pressure on resources distributed in the coastal strip, generating attractive fishing alternatives on fish stocks such as large pelagic fish.
   
   
2. Ensure the use of regulated gear, which are consistent with the legal framework of the GMR.
   
   
3. To ensure the prevention of incidental catches of species that are particularly vulnerable, threatened, or prohibited, such as sharks, rays, turtles and seabirds during fishing operations.
   
   
4. Facilitate procurement, storage and analysis of information coming from the large pelagic fish catches associated with the FADs.
   
   
5. Establish educational programs and training on the use and maintenance of FADs.
   
   
6. Improve and develop frameworks for establishing and coordinating effective consultation involving all the interested parties in research, management and educational initiatives among users of the Galapagos Marine Reserve and International cooperation.
   
   
7. Suggest the continuity of actions that allow for the correct handling, transport, and storage, obtaining value-added products and marketing of large pelagic fish.
   
   
8. Improve monitoring, control and implementation of regulations concerning the use of FADs in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

 

History of FAD in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

On 20 December 2005 the Inter-Institutional Management Authority (AIM) resolved "the responsibility of the GNP to support the pilot project of fishing with FADs and permitted fishing gear, which contains at minimum, organization and management systems, monitoring and evaluation. And invites other organizations to support in the funding for the implementation of the said pilot project."

However, despite the availability of the first placement of FADs in the Archipelago, the actions envisaged in the FAD's draft were being relegated and even forgotten, by the same institutions and interested parties.

Almost a year later, the Galapagos National Park and WWF made a diagnosis of the condition of the project by making a series of modifications to the initial FAD's project proposal, changes having to do with the search for strategic partners to build the heads of those placed FADs, defined schedule of activities and timetable for the implementation of actions and assigning responsibility.

In October 2006, Isabelenian fishermen from the COPAHISA cooperative, along with experts from the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) put into operation the first Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) in waters near Isabela Island, this inter-institutional effort was the start of the FAD project.

At the same time we come to identify a group of users interested in participating in the project, both in Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal, and links are made for cooperation between agencies such as WWF, BID-FOMIN and Araucaria XXI, while realizing the need to develop a management plan that provides guidelines regarding the use of devices, growing interest in exploitation of large pelagic fish associated with the FADs, fishing regulatory compliance, monitoring of catches, users, performance indicators and possible management measures associated with the FADs.

Through Resolution No. 23, the  Directorate of the Galapagos National Park, of March 2007, has ordered a maximum of up to two Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) for each artisanal fishing cooperative (COPROPAG, Copes, COPESPROMAR and COPAHISA) to be used in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Considering this is a pilot fishing project, the number of these devices is limited until its effectiveness, handling and identification of potential impacts are properly assessed through a monitoring program.

	Fishing boats operating in the vicinity of Fish Aggregating Devices.

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park, WWF and Araucaria XXI worked together in implementing this project, in Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal as in Isabela, pledging to support artisanal fishing cooperatives COPAHISA, COPROPAG, COPESAN y COPESPROMAR and with the acquisition of the buoys, while the sector is committed to participating actively in work meetings, appointing members of the cooperatives that will come to represent the interests of the artisanal fisheries sector of San Cristóbal, inform members of the cooperative, the results of the meeting and define a work schedule for assembling the devices and finally supply materials and labor in the installation of the buoys.

Finally, three buoys were built by the INOCAR in Guayaquil, installed between January and July in San Cristóbal in 2008.

This program has counted on the support of:

WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), is the largest conservation organization in the world, founded in Morges, Switzerland, with presence in over 90 countries.

Araucaria XXI is the Program for the environmental sustainability of human development in Latin America of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation Development (SAICD).