April 10- Apr 17, 1999
Galapagos Conditions & Death of a Cucumber
Fisherman
Things are continuing to rebound from El Niño. Notably, the beaches at Punta Suarez, Hood Island are teeming with sea lions. The Albatross have arrived in force and the first eggs are appearing. I estimate about 1000 individual Albatross were floating in rafts visible from the cliffs of Punta Suarez. A constant stream of albatross are flying by the cliffs and landing. A lot of mating is still going on too. The numbers in the visitor site colony appear to be normal. 14 Waved Albatross were counted at Prince Phillip Steps at Tower! I have seen a few in past there but never so many. (In 1989 I saw 2 pairs actually dancing at the end of the visitor trail at Prince Phillip Steps)
The weather is warm but I did not feel any rain during the week. The water temperatures are about the same as the last couple of weeks with the average being about 74 degrees F. (23.3 C.) The water temperatures in the west are about 68 - 69 F. (~20 C.) The large island wide swell from 2 weeks ago has flattened out and the sea is quite calm. Hammerhead Sharks are being seen more now (which is good news!) They had largely disappeared during El Niño.
A disturbing development is the magnitude of the sea cucumber take. Every where you go in the islands now, there are cucumber fishing boats. April 15 on Floreana, Puerto Velasco Ibarra at the public dock, there were a group of fisherman cooking their cucumbers. One of the fisherman was a licensed guide in the islands! Several thousand cucumbers were already dried at the site. This is coupled with the fact that over the week, I counted only 1 cucumber of the commercial species while snorkeling at a visitor site. They have taken everything. In one sense, maybe they will stop now that they are so scarce. The end result though is that they are diving deeper for their catch. This is also self limiting as last week, one sea cucumber fisherman died and 2 were injured from rapid decompression (bends) after diving for the cucumbers. This is a direct result of the shallow animals having all been harvested and the dangerous method of collection. (A hookah device is used - simply pumping air down a hose to the diver)
The National Park has set aside certain land areas for cucumber drying but enforcement is very difficult. I was surprised to see that a camp has been set up on the island of Española (Hood) at Playa Manzanilla. Two cucumber boats were moored with a cooking platform in between them. It seems that the ecosystem is much too fragile to risk this kind of activity. The world breeding range of the the Waved Albatross and the endemic race of the Large Cactus Finch just to mention two are too vulnerable to risk things such as accidental introduction of new organisms. The loss of mangroves also continues as reports from Isabela show that the mangroves of Puerto Villamil are being used for firewood in cooking cucumbers.
We can only hope that this will stop soon and that nothing new develops. What's next? Urchin harvesting....?
Specific islands observations and water temps follow below:
4-11-99
Tower
Large numbers of Great Frigate males displaying - many more than 2 weeks ago.
Beach
Lots more Large Ground Finches and Sharp Beaked Ground Finches than I have seen in the past year or so. Warbler Finches still absent on the trails.
Water temp is much cooler now. It has changed rapidly over the past few days 73.6 avg tempPrince Philip Steps
Many Waved Albatross flying around the cliff faces in the late afternoon. I counted 14 in one view. 5 were sitting around together but no courtship activity.
Masked Boobies are starting to nest but no eggs yet. Usual tropic bird activity. Palo Santos are starting to lose their leaves. 1 Short Eared-owl present.
4-12-99
Punta Espinosa
3 penguins near shore. No Cormorants still in the nest at the far point at Punta Espinosa
Water temp 68 - 69 F. Lots of sea lions now and young bulls.Tagus Cove
Feral cats (1) and lots of goats. The goats have been in the area for quite a while and appear to be making a noticeable impact on the vegetation. Saw one large male land iguana on upper trail and scat + tracks of large one at the landing!
4-13-99
Puerto Egas
only 1 fur seal seen - the colony has been very reduced over the past couple of monthsBartolome
water temp 74
Penguins in normal numbers
4-14-99
North Seymour
water temp 74.5
Lots of blue footed boobies nesting but only saw one with an egg
Leks of magnificent frigates active but still mainly Great Frigates nestingSouth Plaza
water temp 74
Land Iguanas still spread around and 2 active small ground finch nests found with 3 chicks in them
Audubon Shearwaters nesting
4-15-99
Punta Cormorant
11 Flamingos
White Cheeked Pintails normal numbers
Western Sandpipers
water temp 73.5
4-16-99
Punta SuarezLarge numbers of sea lions at the landing beach - almost impossible to cross. The cliff faces were spectacular with large numbers of flying albatross. Several large rafts with a couple of hundred albatross each floating. Quite a bit of mating and the first eggs are appearing. A few blue footed pairs have started to nest