Galapagos Matters Autumn Winter 2020 - Galapagos Conservation Trust

GALAPAGOSMATTERS
CONTENTS
Cover
Hope the whale shark was tagged
in autumn 2019 off Darwin’s
Arch in Galapagos. She then
travelled more than 3000km
away from the Islands and back,
providing the longest migration
track from a whale shark to date.
Sadly, however, her tag stopped
transmitting in May 2020 in an area
of high industrial fishing effort.
© Jonathan Green
4-5 Wild Galapagos
6 -7 Galapagos News
8 -11 The potential cost of the pandemic
With help from some of GCT’s partners and friends,
Clare Simm explores the effects that the COVID-19
lockdown has had in Galapagos both for its residents
and wildlife, and what some of the longer-term impacts
might be. The latter includes the risk that invasive
species such as the fly Philornis downsi pose when
not controlled, as Charlotte Causton explains.
12-13 Project Updates
14 UK News
15 -17 Whale shark migration
Whale sharks are known to migrate long distances but
we still have so much to learn about these endangered
fish. However our understanding is increasing thanks to
tagged individuals, such as Hope, whose inspiring, but
sad, story Jonathan Green tells.
18 Growing food at home
While growing vegetables at home has become a hobby
for many of us, in remote places like the Galapagos
Islands it is a vital activity. GCT’s Beth Byrne explains
the importance behind one of the new projects that
has grown up out of the pandemic.
19 A decade of tortoise research
The Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Programme
turned ten this year. Henry Nicholls interviews project
founder Stephen Blake about what the last decade has
done for tortoise conservation.
20 Global Relevance –
Due to the pandemic, we are more aware than ever
that our wellbeing is linked to that of the environment.
Sharon Deem explores the concept of ‘One Health’,
the idea that the health of people, animals and the
environment are all connected..
21-23 Membership, Reviews, Events
and Merchandise
CONTRIBUTORS
Charlotte Causton is a senior
research scientist at the
Charles Darwin Foundation
with extensive experience
in developing methods for
controlling invasive insects in
Galapagos. She is currently
coordinating an international
effort to develop methods
to control the invasive
avian parasitic fly, Philornis
downsi, which is threatening
many endemic bird species
in the Archipelago.
Jonathan Green is a qualified
naturalist guide, dive master
and elected Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society
of London who has been
working in Galapagos for over
25 years. In 2011, he set up
the Galapagos Whale Shark
Project to monitor and study
whale sharks in the Islands.
Having worked in Central
Africa for over 15 years on
a variety of conservation
issues, Stephen Blake
moved to Galapagos in 2008.
He established the Giant
Tortoise Movement Ecology
Programme (GTMEP) in 2010
to conduct research on the
movements of
Galapagos tortoises.
Sharon Deem is a wildlife
veterinarian, epidemiologist
and the director of the
Saint Louis Zoo Institute for
Conservation Medicine. She
has conducted projects in
over 30 counties, including
over a decade of working in
Galapagos. Much of her work
focuses on diseases shared
between domestic animals,
wildlife and people.
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