The Plight of Sea Cucumbers in the Galapagos
Sea cucumbers in the Galapagos are being fished out illegally in spite of a four-year ban that is unsuccessfully enforced by the Ecuadorian government. Most sea cucumbers are dried and exported to Taiwan and Hong Kong. The waters off of mainland Ecuador have already been stripped of commercially valuable sea cucumbers. The controversy in the Galapagos involves the inability to sustain sea cucumber harvesting, and that the removal of millions of sea cucumbers will have detrimental effects on the food chain in the waters of the Galapagos. (Sullivan, 1999) Aside from the ecological damage, it is feared that these fishermen will go after other, rarer species when the sea cucumbers are depleted. (Stutz, 1995) It has been proposed to raise sea cucumber in captivity, but difficulties exist, such as locating the sexually mature sea cucumbers, the timing of mating the animals, providing the necessary food for the larvae, and then releasing the sea cucumbers at the right time. (Coh!The sea cucumber, or Cucumaria frondosa, make up the class Holothuroidae, of the phylum Echinodermata. The sea cucumber is related to the starfish, and can be described as big slug-like blobs. Sea cucumbers have a rubbery-like, warty body and th
The extreme over-fishing forced the government's decision to shut down the sea cucumber season one month early. Darwin's theories on natural selection can be attributed to his visit to Galapagos. There were fears that because the fishermen left behind debris, that rats from the fishing boats would come ashore. (Sitwell, 1993) The sea cucumbers' flesh is made up of 50 - 60% proteins, which makes for source of high-quality food. When the waters of Micronesia were exhaustively harvested for the sea cucumber, fishermen set their sights first to Ecuador's Pacific coast in 1988, and then to the Galapagos in early 1992. Sea cucumber fishers demand fishing rights, threaten researchers and wildlife. The cloaca contract, forcing water into the respiratory. The English naturalist Charles Darwin's visit to the islands in 1835 resulted in international fame for the area. (Trade Environment Database, 1994) Studies have shown that sea cucumber populations can be depressed for years after the over-fishing takes place. The variety of animal and plant life that exists here are all resident species, of which their ancestors had to fly, drift, swim or hitched a ride there, because the islands were never attached to any other land mass.
Common topics in this essay:
Hong Kong,
Resources Reserve,
Galapagos Sullivan,
Galapagos Islands,
Britannica Online,
Encarta Encyclopedia,
Charles Darwin,
Galapagos Stone,
Charles Darwin's,
sea cucumber,
Bednekoff Langreth,
sea cucumbers,
cohn 1996,
britannica online,
encyclopędia britannica,
environment database,
encyclopędia britannica online,
trade environment database,
trade environment,
galapagos islands,
online sea cucumber,
cucumber fishermen,
sea cucumber season,
2000 sea,
britannica online sea,
|
Acceptance Essays
