Galapagos Marine Reserve (Ecuador)

The Wyss Foundation partnered with the Charles Darwin Foundation to strengthen the management of the 138,872 square kilometer Galapagos Marine Reserve and expand protections to promote connectivity to other critical marine habitats throughout the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

The Galapagos Marine Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site, renowned for its high marine biodiversity and extraordinary oceanographic features that provide many habitats in a unique environmental setting. As the heart of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Region, the Reserve is also home to migratory species such as hammerhead sharks. Through its partnership with the Wyss Foundation, the Charles Darwin Foundation continues to lead local efforts to mitigate threats to the Galapagos, including illegal fishing, boat traffic, marine plastic pollution, and marine invasive species.

In a step toward fulfilling its promise to conserve thirty percent of its marine territory by 2030, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso created the new Hermandad Marine Reserve in January 2022, protecting an additional 60,000 square kilometers and establishing a strongly protected “Swimway” between Ecuador’s Galapagos Marine Reserve and Costa Rica’s Cocos Marine Conservation Area.

With support from the Wyss Foundation, Charles Darwin Foundation scientists have made amazing recent discoveries in the Galapagos Marine Reserve and along the chain of underwater seamounts now protected by the Hermandad Marine Reserve. Researchers discovered thirty deep-sea invertebrate species that are new to science, represented by fragile coral and sponge communities found within the seamounts of Galapagos. Additionally, they have recently recorded, for the first time in the Galapagos, the broadnose sevengill shark and bluntnose sixgill. These findings contribute to understanding both species’ territorial range and show the importance of protecting habitat connectivity for rare species.