University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...

Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature
d. Massive extraction of marine resources (marine fisheries)
There are indications that artisanal fishing is affecting exploited marine
communities. They are not only affecting the target species, they also have a
cascading effect on non-commercial species and the ecosystem in general
(Ruttenberg, 2001)
Management and control of the marine resources have been very poor
before 1986, and after 1986 it has been run by “everyone and no one”, the navy,
the ministry of Industry and fishery, and INEFAN (the national service that falls
under the ministry of Agriculture and livestock). But lack of management and
control has allowed the overexploitation of the marine resources.
In recent years local fishermen (many of them new arrivals), commercial
fishing, and trawlers (many foreign) have been doing illegal and highly
destructive commercial fishing within the marine park for lobsters, tuna, sharks,
grouper and sea cucumber. Japanese ships are frequently spotted just outside the
reserves, where they sell their illegal catches. Divers also report findings of dead
sharks, sea lions and turtles attached in nets. There are also reports that boats
from mainland comes to exchange sea cucumbers with prostitutes and drugs
(Honey, 1999).
For two decades a battle has been going on between the national park
service and fishermen and industrial fishing groups, about how the marine
reserve should be used.
In 1994 Ecuadorian television showed shocking footage of large
clandestine encampments of sea cucumber fishermen, who were diving into
shallow waters and collecting an estimated 150.000 cucumbers per day. The sea
cucumbers were clandestinely exported to Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong,
where they were eaten or used in medicines. Shortly after the illegal camps were
shown in television, park guards and tour guides discovered 86 butchered giant
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