Fishing Practices in the Galapagos Islands: The Local Struggle Approached Through Two Political Ecology Theses

Authors

  • Brittany MacGillivray

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5931/djim.v7i2.76

Keywords:

Fishing, Galapagos Islands

Abstract

Overexploitation and illegal fishing continues to be a problem within the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Local compliance regarding conservation initiatives and the regulations governing the access to, and use of marine resources is exacerbating these problems. The conservation and control thesis and the degradation and marginalization thesis from political ecology were applied to the current issues in the Marine Reserve as an attempt to understand behaviour motivation. Commonalities among these theses suggest a socio-political struggle where government and international agencies are discrediting local values and livelihood, and are encouraging the overexploitation of their resources. Future management should strive to understand and address these motivations; working with and encouraging the inclusion of local communities into management regimes to ultimately ensure compliance, community empowerment, and the long-term sustainable use of marine resources and the integrity of the marine ecosystems in the Galapagos Islands.  

Author Biography

Brittany MacGillivray

Brittany MacGillivray, a Nova Scotian native, completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Currently she is completing her Masters degree in Resource and Environmental Management, also at Dalhousie University. The enrolment in this degree and recent traveling endeavours have contributed significantly to her keen interest in international issues, focusing on fisheries management in developing countries. Brittany took advantage of an assignment in her Fisheries Management class to examine some key motivating factors for the current illegal and over-exploitive behaviours occurring in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

References

Barlow, M. (2007). Blue covenant: The global water crisis and the coming battle for the right to water. Toronto, ON: McClelland &amp; Stewart. CrossRef<br /> <br /> Camhi, M. (1995). Industrial fisheries threaten ecological integrity of the Galapagos Islands. Conservation Biology, 9, 715-719.<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1995.09040715.x" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1995.09040715.x</a><br /> <br /> CDF, GNP, &amp; INGALA (2008). Galapagos Report 2006-2007. Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador.<br /> <br /> Derman, B., &amp; Ferguson, A. (1995). Human rights, environment, and development: The dispossession of fishing communities on Lake Malawi. Human Ecology, 22, 125-142. CrossRef<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01191646" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01191646</a><br /> <br /> Environmental Justice Foundation (2005). Pirates and profiteers: How pirate fishing are robbing people and ocean. In: Galapagos Report 2006-2007. CDF, GNP and INGALA, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador.<br /> <br /> Escobar, A. (2006). Difference and conflict in the struggle over natural resources: A political ecology framework. Development, 49, 6-13. CrossRef<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100267" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100267</a><br /> <br /> Galapagos Conservancy (2007). An important update on shark-fishing. Retrieved from http://www.galapagos.org/2008/index.php?id=17.<br /> <br /> Honey, M. (2008). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who own Paradise. Washington, DC: Island Press.<br /> <br /> Novy, J. W. (n.d.) Incentive measures for conservation of biodiversity and sustainability: A case study of the Galapagos Islands. Retrieved from http://www.cbd.int/doc/case-studies/inc/cs-inc-ec-galapagos-en.pdf<br /> <br /> Perreault, T. (2005). State restructuring and the scale politics of rural water governance in Bolivia. Environment and Planning A, 37, 263-284. CrossRef<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a36188" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a36188</a><br /> <br /> Robbins, P. (2004). Political Ecology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.<br /> <br /> Ruttenberg, B. I. (2001). Effects of Artisanal Fishing on Marine Communities in the Galapagos Islands. Conservation Biology, 15, 1691-1699.<br /> <br /> Taylor, J. E., Hardner, J., &amp; Stewart, M. (2008). Ecotourism and economic growth in the Galapagos: an island economy-wide analysis. Environmental and Development Economic, 14, 139-162. CrossRef<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355770X08004646" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355770X08004646</a><br /> <br /> Toral-Granda, M. V. (2005). Requiem for the Galapagos sea cucumber fishery. SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin, 21, 5-8.<br /> <br /> Verlecar, X. N., Desai, S. R., &amp; Dhargalkar, V. K. (2007). Shark hunting &ndash; An indiscriminate trade endangering elasmobranchs to extinction. Current Science, 92, 1078-1082.<br /> <br /> Viswanathan, K., Nielsen, J., Degnbol, P., Ahmed, M., Hara, M., &amp; Abdullah, N. M. R. (2003). Fisheries co-management policy brief: Findings from a worldwide study. Penang, Malaysia: Worldfish Center.
DJIM Volume 7 Number 2 Wordle

Downloads

Published

2011-03-20

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2011)

Section

Articles

License

Papers published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management must be the original, unpublished work of the author. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any copyright clearances required in relation to their work.

Authors submitting a paper to the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management automatically agree to grant a limited license to DJIM if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license gives permission for DJIM to publish the paper in a given issue and to maintain the work in the electronic journal archive. DJIM also submits issues to institutional repositories and Open Access repositories.

Contributors agree to each reader accessing, downloading, or printing one copy of their article for their own personal use or research. All other copyrights remain with the author, subject to the requirements that any republication of the work be accompanied by an acknowledgement that the work was first published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management and that the DJIM Editorial Chair must be notified of any republication of a work first published in DJIM.

Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management
c/o School of Information Management
Faculty of Management
Dalhousie University
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5
Canada

Email: djim@dal.ca

Authors should recognize that, because of the nature of the Internet, the publisher has no control over unauthorized copying or editing of protected works.