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The K-9 unit of the Ecuadorian Environmental Police recently prevented an illegal exportation of two marine iguanas, an emblematic species of the Galapagos archipelago that has been protected since 1959.

On September 30, 2010, the Police were conducting a routine inspection of cargo and luggage at the Galapagos airport in Baltra, Ecuador. Willy, one of the dogs of the K-9 unit, identified a cardboard box containing two marine iguanas. The box had been abandoned by its owner. The iguanas were hidden in a compartment of the box. Both iguanas were improperly stored, but fortunately, they were still alive. The body of a deceased baby sea turtle was also found in the box. After the police inspection, the marine iguanas were delivered to the authorities of the Galapagos National Park.

According to the police report, witnesses only provided a general description of the suspected owner of the box. Since the box had been abandoned, the Police were unable to locate the suspect. An investigation has been opened to that end.

While the perpetrator has not yet been identified, this case shows that the mere presence of the K-9 unit at the Galapagos airport was effectively able to frustrate and prevent a wildlife crime. According to Galapagos special legislation and the Penal Code of Ecuador, the non-authorized collection and/or mobilization of wildlife, including its exportation from the islands, is a penal infraction sanctioned with imprisonment.

This operation came a day after another important finding of six shark fins stored in the ceiling of a house in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. Sharks are also protected species in Galapagos. The shark fins were found as the result of an inspection conducted by another K-9 unit. This case is also currently under investigation to determine judicial responsibilities.

The K-9 unit of the Ecuadorian Environmental Police is supported by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. It is a pioneer unit in Ecuador, and in the region. In the past few years since its inception, the K-9 unit has proven to be instrumental in the fight against wildlife crimes in Galapagos. The dogs are trained to detect wildlife, including shark fins and sea cucumbers, and to prevent their illegal exportation. The K-9 unit operates the three inhabited islands of Galapagos under the command of specialized police officers.

Click here for more information on the K-9 unit.

Great_Frigatebird_at_Genovesa

Although the magnificent frigatebird may be the least likely animal on the Galapagos Islands to be unique to the area, it turns out the Galapagos population of this tropical seabird may be its own genetically distinct species warranting a new conservation status, according to a paper by researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the University of Missouri-St. Louis published last week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The Galapagos Islands, which once served as a scientific laboratory for Charles Darwin, boast a number of unique plant and animal species, from tortoises to iguanas to penguins. Magnificent frigatebirds, however, can fly hundreds of kilometers across open ocean, suggesting that their gene flow should be widespread and their genetic make-up should be identical to those of the magnificent frigatebirds on the mainland coast of the Americas. Even Darwin predicted that most Galapagos seabirds would not be very different from their mainland counterparts. But researchers at SCBI conducted three different kinds of genetics tests and all yielded the same result—the Galapagos seabirds have been genetically different from the magnificent frigatebirds elsewhere for more than half a million years.

For More Go To Source…Eurekalert

And if you’re fortunate enough to find yourself in this remote archipelago in the east Pacific, then experiencing it from the deck of a yacht is almost certainly the best way to go.

It is not, however, an easy destination for yachts to reach, given its isolation far off the coast of Ecuador, and the stiff regulations with which visiting boats, crew and guests must comply.

For More check Source…CNN

0°00’00″ Latitude South…

Galapagos Penguins Face Extinction as Sea Temperatures Rise Worldwide

The Global Climate change has been a hot topic since the release of Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth.  Debates have swirled regarding the cause, yet it is undeniable that weather patterns have changed and we are seeing more extreme weather – both Japan and New York saw their hottest summers on record.  The climate change has been touted as the cause from flooding in Pakistan to crop failure in China.  Yet one of the smallest and most adorable victims of global warming are Galapagos Penguins.

The Galapagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is the most northerly occurring of all the penguins. Endemic to the Galapagos Islands at approximately 14 inches in height it is smaller and more duck-like than its southern cousins of the Antarctic. Adult penguins have a bluish-black head, back and flippers when new. Older worn feathers, dull to a brown color. Their underside is white with the exception of a black line along the side and scatter feathers on the chest.

During years with the El Nino effect the warming of the sea surface temperature effectively blocks the cold water currents from coming up the coast of South America.  With the lack of these currents, the Penguins food supplies are drastically reduced and Galapagos Penguins postpone breeding entirely to avoid starvation.  During the 1982-1983 El Nino 77% of the Galapagos Penguins died of starvation.

For More Go To Source at Galapagosonline…

Environment Minister Marcela Aguiñaga said representatives of several public institutions are meeting with the shared belief that economic growth is merely one factor in true sustainable development and the idea that profitability encompasses more than economic gain.

She said tourism has become Galapagos’ “primary economic activity” and the basis not only for the well-being of local inhabitants but also the health of its ecosystems and the management of its natural resources.

But the minister noted that “few could have predicted that this most environmentally friendly of economic activities would become one of the main threats to the health and integrity of Galapagos’ ecosystems,” Aguiñaga said in her inauguration speech, to which Efe had access.

Without offering definite figures, she added that while there has been a reduction in the number of visitors this year “average annual growth has held steady at 7 percent, which means Galapagos at the moment is home to Ecuador’s healthiest economy.”

She added, however, that those statistics do not mean the local community and nature are equally as healthy.

Underlying problems remain on the Galapagos Islands, but now the government is committed to finding a solution and seeking an alternative path to sustainable development, she said.

According to Aguiñaga, tourism to date “has functioned according to market forces and laws, in which … the basic economic needs of Galapagos residents have not been met.”

She added that there has been a lack of understanding of the “fragility of the ecosystems” and the “importance of safeguarding natural resources for the benefit of future generations.”

The goal of the summit, also attended by Tourism Minister Freddy Ehlers and other authorities, is to reach accords and guidelines for a new tourism model for the Galapagos province.

Participants in the gathering, which will be held through Friday on San Cristobal Island, the easternmost island in the archipelago, are to study different aspects necessary for building a successful and sustainable ecotourism model in Galapagos.

The event is being organized by the Tourism Ministry, the Environment Ministry, the Galapagos National Park Service, the World Wildlife Fund and other entities.

In 2007, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage Committee added the Galapagos Islands to its List of World Heritage Sites in Danger, citing growing tourism and other environmental and social problems.

Two months ago, the committee decided to remove the archipelago from its list of sites in peril, drawing criticism from some environmental organizations.

“The removal of this unique site of global importance to humanity is somewhat premature,” the director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Julia Marton-Lefevre, said at the time.

“IUCN stands ready to continue its work with the Ecuadorian government to fully implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee,” she said.

For its part, Ecuador expressed its “satisfaction” with a decision that “acknowledges” the government’s efforts.

The Galapagos Islands are located about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of the coast of continental Ecuador and were named the first World Natural Heritage Site in 1978.

Some 95 percent of the territory’s 8,000 sq. kilometers (a little over 3,000 sq. miles) constitutes a protected area that is home to more than 50 species of animals and birds found nowhere else on the planet.

The islands were made famous by 19th-century British naturalist Charles Darwin, whose observations of life on the islands contributed greatly to his theory of the evolution of species. EFE

Source : Latin American Herald Tribune