A REPORT
DEAR COLLEAGUE
I have a group of students who are planning to visit your area next
week.
They belong to a nature conservation group called Marine Biological
Reserve, and they would be interested in seeing some local wildlife,
vegetation, landscapes. I was wondering
if you could send them a brief report recommending a place they could visit ?
They just need to know what the place is, why it is a suitable place to
visit, and practical considerations such as how to get there.
REPORT
TO:
Galapagos Marine Biological Reserve
FROM: Sylvia Chango
RE: I
plan to visit the Galapagos Islands.
INTRODUCTION
this reserve is in the island region, Colon Archipelago, Galápagos
Province with a depth of 0-4000 m.
TOURISM: Tourism activity conducted in Galapagos is an important income
for the country and the islands (Montesinos 2002). In 2005 the entry was
recorded 122,445 tourists, of which 68,066 (56%) and recreational activities
conducted visits to the GMR (GNPS 2006). The Reserve has identified more than
60 tourist sites, of which only a few are used frequently, many others do not
receive more than 100 tourists a year, or have never been visited, showing
overfishing in certain areas and under-exploitation in others.
BACKGROUND
Vegetation types: intertidal zone (mangroves, lagoons, coastal, sandy
beaches, rocky beaches and cliffs), coastal waters (funds and sub-tidal rocky
vertical walls, coral reefs and sandy bottoms) open water or pelagic (low) .
VEGETATION: The food web in the ocean begins with marine plants:
phytoplankton, macroalgae and mangroves, which nourish herbivores, which in
turn are eaten by carnivores. On the need for light, all plants are limited to
living in the shallows of the sea, where the solar incidence is higher.
WILDLIFE: Regarding marine diversity, currently there are records of more
than 2909 species, of which 18.2% are endemic, although on average by taxonomic
group endemism exceeds 21% (Bustamante et al. 2002a).
ATTRACTIONS
FOR YOUR GROUP
Visitors have different things to do and see, once you finish your
voyage at sea.
the fishing has been the main source of income for the Galapagos, but
from the forties, there have been dramatic changes when subsistence fishing
began to be replaced by another larger scale, the same that has caused a stir
among the Status, conservation organizations and the same group of fishermen
catching shark fins is incidental rather than craft, which are basically for
export, as it has a very lucrative and beneficial cost.
In the reserve there is variety of fauna characteristic of the place,
which makes it irreplaceable compared to other coastal areas of the continent.
The most picturesque and vast marine species found in the reserve include the
stripe, blue whale, shark, whale, orca, pilot whales, hammerhead sharks, false
killer whales and spotted dolphins, bottlenose and Risso, joined them the green
turtle, common dolphin, sea cucumber, cod and lobster.
PRACTICAL
INFORMATION
HOW WE: Access, in the first instance, by air from the Ecuadorian
mainland to the islands, or by sea rarely. From here you can venture to the
coastal areas of life or, failing that, by boat to open water areas where you
can do different activities.
this reserve is worth
$ 8 two adults one child, all this value covers visits to the various acres of
land with the reservation.
