Galapagos monitors its sharks to protect them

In Galapagos, the most feared aquatic species, the sharks,  are being marked with chips, within a process to identify its habitats within the marine reserve of the Ecuadorian archipelago, where they are protected and have been identified 33 species, several of them endangered.

“We want to know what are the breeding areas of the main species of sharks,” told to the news agency AFP, Eduardo Espinoza, who is responsible for the marine research of the Galapagos National Park (GNP).

Espinoza added that they are determining the sites where sharks live their early stages, as it prepares to place  microchips to juvenile sharks in order  to track the animals in the marine reserve of the island region – 138 000 km2, the second largest in the world.

The work, in which Brazilian biologist Talita Gomes-Vieira (volunteer in PNG) is participating, includes a sample of tissue from the fin of the shark for genetic studies and the introduction of the electronic circuit under the skin of the back, it takes just two minutes, then the shark is subjected to a process of “resuscitation” through movements that makes the water to  circulate by the bronchi, before releasing it.

Sharks are highly migratory and pelagic animals, its presence in Galapagos Marine system, shows that the ecosystem is in good condition, indicates Espinoza.