The residents of Galapagos Islands in
we engaged in an angry war of words with conservationists.Furious that
modocian president,
Doran Ballen, has
a new law that would
have allowed them to exploit
more of the islands' resources, the islanders have threatened to cut off food supply to
the animals at the Charles
Darwin Research Station.
Should the threat be carried
out, it would affect the lifeline of iguanas and giant tortoises, including the last surviving member of the Pinta
subspecies.
Frayed exchanges are
nothing new between the
local people and conservation scientists. Trouble was
precipitated in February this
year when the government
shut down a lucrative seacucumber fishery before the
end of its 3-month season.
Furious fisherfolk responded
by holding national park
wardens hostage and threatening to kill the tortoises.
As a sequel to these incidents, the government began
to draft a new conservation
law for the Galapagos
islands. However, in August,
Eduardo Veliz, the deputy
for the islands, persuaded the
Ecuadorian Congress to pass
his own law.
This law would have
required the 50,000 tourists
who visit the islands annuafly, to spend at least one
night ashore. Conservationists feared that the law
would lead to a huge increase
in hotel building apart from
increased fishing and
more economic development within the national
park. However, after intense
lobbying by the Charles
Darwin Foundation, the
president vetoed the law on
September 1.
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