The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park is aware that a Marine Reserve with unique characteristics such as the Galapagos requires that each and every one of the actors who have a part in it are able to act responsibly, respecting the aquatic environment and the other users.

	Increasing the capabilities of the fishing sector is an integral part of the strategy for sustainable fishing in Galapagos. In the photo, San Cristóbal fishermen attend a workshop of MAP Source.

Therefore, in the quest to have an organized and responsible artisanal fishing sector, there have been several initiatives to support the fishermen; in this sense we can distinguish two lines of work, on the one hand, support for formation of community occupational training, both to ensure the presence of professionals in Galapagos tourist boats and reduce fishing effort and pressure on marine resources, and equal support of artisanal fisherman working so that they can continue to exercise the activity, but in better fishing conditions, increasing their capabilities and skills for the maintenance of boats, to sail and steer ships or to interpret charts and other navigational equipment such as GPS.

Support has also been given to the sector responsible for the post-capture process, providing tools for better handling, processing and marketing of the fish product, in an attempt to encourage examples of good environmental practices in extraction and human development in the fisheries sector that enables it to be part of participatory management, with a longer vision of peace and harmony with its source of wealth, the sea.

Many years of joint efforts

Since 2004 the GNPS project in conjunction with Araucaria XXI and the "Programa de Manejo Ambiental para las islas Galapagos" (UGAFIP) initiated processes to strengthen fishery organizations in Galapagos involving partners and associates of these guilds.

To facilitate results, the "Escuela de Pesca del Pacifico Oriental" (EPESPO) offered professional training programs in three specific lines of work:

• Community Business Administration
• Processing Technology and Transformation of Fishery Resources
• Fishing technology in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

The goal remains to inject the cooperatives and associations in a competitive manner, and as players, into the market with people trained to provide effective solutions to manage their small businesses, contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of these production units.

Thus arose, for example, La Asociación de Mujeres de Isabela "Pescado Azul", when a group of women set out to realize an idea to help the fishermen and also have a job.

	The international awards, like Premio Ecuatorial that la Asociación Pescado Azul de Isabela has received, is an example of the achievements of the project.

The women decided to experiment with fish processing, which is a desirable but untapped resource in Isabela, and once they completed various training courses in the production of fish products, they started to work.

Now the women have two choices to exploit different kinds of fish, smoked and pate. This project enables women to develop these alternatives and strengthen families of the artisanal fishing sector of Isabela Island, improve the household economy with sustainable economic alternatives and secure the stability of fishing through diversification of fisheries and ensure marketing.

This project is a source of employment and income for fishermen's wives of Isabela and creates value-added fish products from the island.

Fishing School

Subsequently, since 2007 and through an inter-agency cooperation agreement the "Escuela de Pesca" (Fishing School) was launched, in conjunction with the Araucaria XXI project, the "Dirección Regional de la Marina Mercante Insular" and INGALA, supporting fishing cooperatives throughout the archipelago, under a program to make grants for the vocational training of fishermen interested in moving up, becoming professionals or changing careers to tourism. 

Various courses have been created, requested by the community, with over 240 beneficiaries trained and more than 150 enrollments issued by the Capitanía de Puerto Baquerizo Moreno for graduates to sail and exercise their certification. Enumerating, the following have been coordinated:

1. Helmsman in April 2008
2. Fisherman IMO in May 2008.
3. On board "Aceitero" in June 2008
4. Skills and Survival in August 2008
5. Coastal skipper in September 2008
6. Basic IMO in October 2008

Initiative for safer fishing operations

Since late 2007, the directorate of the Galapagos National Park, together with Spanish cooperation through the Araucaria XXI project, set out to work with the fishing cooperatives in San Cristóbal and Isabela, to equip the fishing operations with greater security, since the seas of the archipelago are dangerous and safety equipment such as radios and first aid kits, are precarious.

	Attendees of the maritime safety course held in San Cristóbal in 2008.

Such has a number of activities developed, with courses in navigation and use of GPS, theoretical and practical, given initially by ESMENA and later by Spanish engineers of the project in coordination with park rangers. In addition, grants were awarded for fishermen attending the workshops to acquire GPS devices at 50% of cost, acquiring a total of 24 GARMIN 76 devices for the San Cristóbal and Isabella community.

From UCOOPEPGAL (the gathering of different artisanal fishing cooperatives in the archipelago) a prevention campaign for cautious sea cucumber diving was carried out, and in October 2008 in San Cristóbal, for the first time, the DGNP supported the actualization of medical care for the fishing community; this course lasted 8 days and was carried out on site at the "Hospitál Público Oskar Jandl" in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

During that period, more than 35 participants were able to put in practice the concepts learned about the various stages of medical aid, including, looking at different ways of relief, safety positions, direct interventions such as tourniquets, bandages and other first aid used to buy time while the injured person reaches the nearest health center. In the practice part, simulated medical crises were conducted on the human anatomy that may arise during the course of their work on the high seas.

Fishing Dive Masters

The GMR demands professionals in guide and interpretation to enable visitors to learn about the underwater world of Galapagos, respecting the established management measures and privileged environment that surrounds them during their experience.

Moreover, the Galapagos artisanal fishermen have for years been demanding alternative employment to enable them to engage in the tourism sector, taking advantage of their knowledge of protected areas and torrent waters of the Marine Reserve.

As a measure of support, the DGNP has contributed to the training of fishermen as divers to PADI Dive Master, aspiring them to obtain a certificate that allows them to join the roster of guides in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

Along with the Araucaria XXI project, cooperatives COPES, MABSURGAL, COPESPROMAR, COPAHISA, COPROPAG and the Charles Darwin Foundation have already created several courses, the first one in San Cristóbal in 2005, and during 2008 and 2009 through an agreement with INGALA, trained more than 50 young people in the art and use of diving as tourist guides in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, as well as provide a staff better skilled in security and management.

A shared vision of the Marine Reserve

There are many actions and interventions that are performed around the fishing industry in the Galapagos, especially through international cooperation, and through the DGNP it has been possible to assess the trend in this work where, although there are worn spots, overlapping of efforts and above much rejection by the beneficiaries themselves, it is relevant and satisfying to say that the landscape has changed a lot in these times.

There are a lot of industry people involved in the changing processes, with long-term vision, without positions found within the DGNP, with cooperatives better organized, serious and focused on delivering benefits to its members.

In the future, good management of fisheries and careful control of the 40 miles separating the coast from the limits of the Galapagos Marine Reserve, may be the ultimate key in empowering the fishing community to fish sustainably; and the overexploitation of resources in danger, such as the sea cucumber and lobster, will just be memories of a past not to relive.

This program has counted on the support of:

The Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (CDF) is an international non-profit research organization dedicated to providing scientific research, technical assistance and information in order to ensure the success of conservation in Galapagos.

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).