We describe a new system of permanent moorings designed for tour boats, to be installed throughout Galapagos, and the deployment of a research and monitoring vessel to Wolf Island

Merlen, Godfrey

Ortiz Quevedo, Fernando

Pépolas, Roberto

Aquatic Commons

June 2009 75
PROTECTION OF SHALLOW MARINE ECOSYSTEMS IN
GALAPAGOS BY PERMANENT MOORINGS
By: Godfrey Merlen1, Fernando Ortiz Quevedo2 & Roberto Pépolas3
1Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador <merlenway@gmail.com>
2Conservation International, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador
3Charles Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador
SUMMARY
We describe a new system of permanent moorings designed for tour boats, to be installed throughout Galapagos,
and the deployment of a research and monitoring vessel to Wolf Island.
RESUMEN
La protección de los ecosistemas costeros de Galápagos por los atracaderos permanentes. Describimos un nuevo
sistema de atracaderos permanentes, diseñados para los barcos de turismo y para ser instalados a lo largo de las islas
Galápagos, así que el despliegue de un barco de investigación y monitoreo a la isla Wolf.
GALAPAGOS COMMENTARY
GALAPAGOS CORALS AND
THE NEED FOR FIXED MOORINGS
The tropical location of the Galapagos Islands might
suggest that its underwater volcanic slopes should be
covered with hard corals, as in the West Pacific. This is
not the case due to the variable water temperatures,
which do not provide the stable environment that corals
thrive in. Notwithstanding, the Galapagos have 21 species
of zooxanthellate corals, including 19 reef-forming species.
Moreover, especially in the northern islands of Darwin
and Wolf, some extensive coral reefs have developed.
In recent times, higher water temperatures and severe
El Niño events, apparently associated with climate change,
have led to extensive coral mortality. Growing awareness
of the fragility of corals worldwide and in the Galapagos
inspired the development of a project to locate coral reefs,
study their diversity in Darwin and Wolf, and establish
sustainable mechanisms to protect them for the long term.
This was important given the growing dive tourism
that has stimulated increasing and indiscriminate
deployment of anchors in the archipelago. This work
concentrated on the management of anchorage sites and
the search for alternative methods of securing vessels.
Traditional mooring techniques (without use of the
vessel’s own anchors) utilizing heavy weights and chains,
may still cause considerable bottom damage as the chains
scrape across the bottom, creating a large circle of impact
around the mooring centre. New techniques now available
are designed to reduce such impact. These use methods of
penetrating the sea floor and inserting solidly-fixed steel
components, from which lines run to the surface where
they are attached to mooring buoys. These techniques,
specifically helix and Halas moorings, have been tested in
various regions with considerable success.
MOORING DESIGNS
Calculations based on the type of vessels used at Darwin
and Wolf (live-aboard dive vessels) and the most extreme
oceanographic conditions likely to be encountered led to
a decision to utilize in sandy bottoms two 3 m helix screws,
driven deeply into the sand by a hydraulically powered
reduction head coupled to a rotating socket. For rocky
bottoms, stainless steel U-bolts (316 grade) of up to 25 mm
diameter (a Halas design) were chosen for installation by
using a hydraulic drill and bit to perforate the rock to a
depth c. 35 cm. The two coarse-threaded shafts of the U-
bolts are cemented into the substrate with epoxy glue.
THE ZERO ANCHORS PROJECT
Although the project was initially designed for the
northern islands, it quickly became apparent that the
problem was not unique to them. For example, it was
estimated that 5500 anchors were deployed yearly at
Bartolomé Island, on a bottom that is home to the endemic
bat fish Ogcocephalus darwini and razor fish Xyrichthys victori,
and native flatfish Aseraggodes herrei. In the archipelago as
a whole, at least ten other species of endemic fish and
76 Galapagos Research 66
invertebrates (Brittle Sea-Star Ophionereis albomaculatus,
Green Sea-Urchin Lytechinus semituberculatus, Galapagos
Sand Dollar Encope galapagensis, Galapagos Porgy Calamus
taurinus, Blue and Yellow Snapper Archosargus pourtalesii,
Yellow-mouth Blenny Chaenopsis schimitti, Galapagos
Puffer-fish Sphoeroides angusticeps, Galapagos Garden Eel
Taenioconger klausewitzi, Galapagos Tongue-Fish Ophidion
sp., Galapagos Eel Quassiremus evionthas) and many native
ones, such as the spectacular Blunt-head Triggerfish
Pseudobalistes naufragium, inhabit, feed on or nest on sandy
bottoms at the depth range (10–30 m) at which anchors
are normally dropped. Thus the initial idea to conserve
Wolf and Darwin led to the new concept of “Zero Anchors”
for the whole archipelago, involving dozens of moorings.
This idea now has the support of the Ecuadorian govern-
ment and is being implemented by the Galapagos National
Park Service (GNPS).
So far, five permanent moorings have been installed
at an experimental pilot site at Bartolomé (Fig. 1).
Bartolomé was chosen because, according to GNPS data,
it is the uninhabited island with the highest visitation in
the Galapagos group. Virtually every tour boat in the
archipelago visits the island, so beginning there allowed
for priority impact reduction along with high visibility
and use, thus generating valuable feedback from users
regarding mooring adequacy. Also, being relatively near
to the GNPS base, the moorings can be monitored daily
and inspected regularly for wear, tear and performance.
Both helix screw and stainless steel U-bolt moorings
were employed. For experimental purposes the lines to
the surface were of two types: a novel synthetic 20 mm
fibre rope (French-manufactured DELTEX line), and 25
mm nylon rope utilizing an expandable section (Swedish-
made SEAFLEX line) to reduce shocks on the mooring.
Both systems have plastic mooring buoys equipped with
solar-powered flashing lights and radar reflectors.
The moorings have been enthusiastically accepted by
the tourism community, with captains and owners of
vessels pleased with their efficiency and the saving of
wear and tear on their ground gear. Preliminary monit-
oring results are already allowing selection of better
materials for future permanent moorings.
COMPLEMENTARY PROTECTION
FOR WOLF AND DARWIN ISLANDS
These two remote islands remain a priority and their
coral reefs require urgent protection, complementary to
the deployment of fixed moorings. These islands are a hub
for large schools of Scalloped Hammerhead Shark Sphyrna
lewini, and it is imperative not only to save the coral reefs
with which these animals are associated, but also to end
the slaughter of these creatures for their fins. These needs
have resuscitated a project that was started seven years
ago: the stationing of a live-aboard platform for science
and management at Wolf Island. The vessel, the Tiburon
Martillo, is a 23-m steel hull with living quarters for eight
persons. It was successfully deployed in October 2008 to
Wolf, where it will be permanently moored and from
where expeditions will be made periodically to Darwin
to ensure that corals are not being damaged and to control
shark fishing there. The permanent moorings will be
monitored regularly from the boat to ensure their safety
for use and security from vandalism.
CONCLUSION
The state of the biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands is
becoming more worrisome, especially with global climate
change looming larger. Corals are at the forefront of these
concerns. Permanent moorings will not only offer
protection to the corals but will also help to conserve
habitat for many other benthic organisms. At the same
time their installation is helping to raise awareness of
conservation issues and enabling tour operators and
tourists to feel that their impact has been minimized.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was partly financed by the UK DEFRA Darwin
Initiative project 14-048. The Ecuadorian Oceanographic
Institute of the Navy designed the buoys for this project
and helped establish the Bartolomé pilot project. The
Zero Anchors project receives financial and technical
support from Conservation International and WildAid.
This is Contribution number 1089 from the Charles
Darwin Research Station.
Figure 1. Permanent moorings at Bartolomé. This chart is the
first of a series showing permanent moorings in Galapagos,
generated by Ecuador’s Oceanographic Institute of the Navy
(INOCAR).
Galapagos Commentary


Protection of shallow marine ecosystems in Galapagos by permanent moorings

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Protection of shallow marine ecosystems in Galapagos by permanent moorings

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