Quito – The environmental organization Greenpeace asked this Monday to create a marine protected area in the international waters between the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Costa Rica, Colombia and Panamathrough the application of the historic Global Ocean Treaty, signed a year ago within the framework of the United Nations.
The 'Eastern Tropical Pacific High Seas Protected Area' could become the first marine protected area created under the new Treaty, highlighted in a statement the environmental organization, which has been on a scientific cruise aboard its ship since the end of February. ship Arctic Sunrise to investigate and document the marine biodiversity of that area.
“Outside the Galapagos protected area, industrial fishing fleets continue to plunder the oceans. We must protect this area”Ruth Ramos, from Greenpeace's 'Protect the Oceans' campaign, said in a statement.
Ramos recalled that, in March 2023, all governments agreed to the historic UN Ocean Treaty, which until now has only been ratified by Chili and the small island republic of Palau (Oceania), and that will allow the creation of marine reserves in international waters such as the one suggested by the non-governmental organization.
“This Treaty, once ratified, will allow us to protect a vast area of international waters near the Galapagos Islands, safeguarding a vital migratory corridor for marine life, such as sharks and the turtles he added.
The activist highlighted that “the governments of Ecuador, Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica have already taken admirable measures to protect the oceans in their national waters.”
“They now have the historic opportunity to demonstrate their global leadership by protecting this key high seas area and further safeguarding the beauty and biodiversity of the Galapagos region for future generations,” said Ramos.
The environmental organization explained that, “beyond the national waters of Ecuador, Costa Rica and Colombia, there is a pocket of international waters” where “industrial fishing fleets continue to fish in this area, undermining national protection efforts and threatening the entire ecosystem of the region.”
One of these fleets is the Chinese one, which with hundreds of boats prowls the jurisdictional waters of the Galapagos every year in search of the giant squid, but according to specialists they use opaque methods with which they may be capturing protected and threatened species, as was demonstrated in 2017. with the capture of a ship loaded with sharks.
Other national and international fleets also work in this area surrounding the Galapagos with methods such as longlines and fish-aggregating devices that can drift and accidentally and uncontrollably capture protected species, in what has been called “ghost fishing.” .
For Greenpeace, “a high seas marine protected area in this area would eliminate the threat from industrial fishing fleets.”
He also assured that “it would reinforce the national conservation measures implemented by the four countries (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama), which promote the initiative of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) with the objective of creating a protected corridor that encompasses its national waters
“It would also protect a key area of the ocean that many threatened migratory species from the Galapagos and adjacent marine regions must cross to reach key coastal habitats for breeding, nesting and feeding,” Greenpeace concluded.