Posted on December, 01 1999

Quito, Ecuador: When a patrol boat of the Galapagos National Park Service seized a ship called the Nino Dios it was found to be laden with illegal cargo � 30,000 sea cucumbers, dried for export, and 8,000 shark fins worth US$160,000 on the Asian market. The Park Service burned the entire catch, and impounded the ship for auction. It was a great day for law enforcement in the dangerous business of protecting marine life in the Galapagos Islands.

The Galapagos Islands, 1,000 kilometres due west of the Ecuador mainland, are a World Heritage Site. But they have also been targeted by the Asian fishing industry in its hunt for the much-prized sea cucumber, of which other sources off the Ecuador coast have been exhausted. The unique islands offered a virtually untapped source of Isostichopus fuscus, the sea cucumber species desirable in the Orient as a delicacy and aphrodisiac.

Divers easily scooped up the buried treasure of sea cucumbers round the islands, and unemployed fishermen swarmed to the Galapagos hoping to find work. In response to the fishing frenzy, Ecuador's first marine reserve to protect the local sea life was created with the aid of the international conservation organization WWF and its associate organization in Ecuador, Fundacion Natura.

The Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve increased the protected area from 15 to 40 nautical miles shortly after its creation. Commercial fishing was banned and 50 per cent of the tourist dollars earned by the islands was dedicated to conservation. The improved protection of the reserve was acknowledged by WWF as a