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

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Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature exploitation, and it could provide cover for commercial fishing activities. It would also attract a new type of clientele. As the tourist number has increased, the number of guides has been forced to expand rapidly; this has meant certification of a new classification of guides. These guides are mostly native Galapagueños who know a lot about the island, but lack the scientific knowledge, and frequently only speak Spanish (Honey, 1999). The guides do not always exert adequate control over their group, either because of a lack of conservation understanding or commitment or because they don’t want to upset their passengers and jeopardize their end-of-cruise tip (Honey, 1999). Many substandard day boats and on-land hotels are marketing a more conventional type of “sun-and-sand” tourism, which has a negative impact on ecotourism, and attracting another clientele (Honey, 1999). b. Rapidly growing human population Historically, the tiny population, were farmers and fishermen and since 1960s people who worked for the Charles Darwin Research Station or the Park Service, but since the late 1980s, as word spread on mainland that tourism were a “gold mine”, there have been a rapid acceleration in arrivals. The arrivals include colonist, fishermen, poachers, and job and fortune seekers (Honey, 1999). The new arrivals are lured by stories of plentiful jobs and high salaries. The cost of living on the islands is several times higher than on the mainland, but salaries are also as much as seventy-five times higher (Honey, 1999). 50
Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature The Galapagos Islands are now the fastest growing area in Ecuador concerning population, with an average increase of 8%. The islands permanent population leaped from a few hundred to 15.000 by the late 1990s (Honey, 1999). The new arrivals are straining limited resources, such as freshwater, electricity, telephone service and schools. This also raises problems with garbage and sewage disposal, and, more timber and parkland for houses and farms is needed. c. Rapidly increasing rates of introduction of alien species Introduction of non-native species has accelerated with the tourism boom, and they are endangering the survival of fragile and endemic species. On some islands, species of tortoise have become extinct because goats have eaten the vegetation they feed on, and rats have eaten their eggs. Goat and donkeys have also caused massive erosion, threatened the tortoises’ habitat and trampled their nests (Honey, 1999). The park service and the research station have made campaigns to kill the goats and donkeys and they have relocated some of the tortoises to a breeding centre, and restored the island’s ecosystem through fencing, seed banks and by reintroduction of native species to help boost the wild population. The government have - through the New Special Law - made some effort to track and eliminate alien species –plants, animals, insects, fungi, bacteria – that are brought by boat or plane by tourist, new immigrants and illegal fishing operations. They have made a quarantine plan, inspection of cargo and people arriving by boat or plane, and the research station activities have been concentrated on eradication, and breeding of endangered species. 51
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University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...

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