Galapagos biodiversity under threat – in pictures

Fish at the Sombrero Chino dive site. Greenpeace has urged governments to ratify the high seas treaty adopted by UN member states last June to allow for an expanded protected area in international waters around the Galapagos.

Galapagos tortoises on Santa Cruz island. Greenpeace is carrying out a scientific expedition in the Galapagos, which is home to about 3,000 marine species such sea turtles, hammerhead sharks, sea lions and marine iguanas.

A school of barracudas at the North Seymour Island dive site. The Galapagos islands, about 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) off the mainland of Ecuador, have flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world.

A Galapagos penguin at the Sombrero Chino dive site. The existing Galapagos marine reserve, a Unesco world heritage site created in 1998, is ‘one of the best examples of ocean protection in action. But it is still an exception in a world where only three percent of the ocean is currently fully or highly protected,’ Ruth Ramos of Greenpeace said.

A marine iguana in Tortuga Bay, Santa Cruz island. The high seas treaty was adopted after more than 15 years of discussions to extend environmental protections to international waters which make up more than 60 percent of the world’s oceans. It will come into effect 120 days after being ratified by 60 countries, a goal activists hope to reach by 2025.

A Galapagos tortoise on Santa Cruz island. So far the has been signed by several dozen states but only ratified by Palau and Chile.

A ranger tags a baby hammerhead shark in a mangrove swamp on Santa Cruz island. Greenpeace said extending the protected area around the Galapagos ‘would remove the threat of industrial fishing fleets. It would also protect a key area of ocean that many threatened migratory species from Galapagos and adjacent marine regions must cross in order to reach key coastal habitats for pupping, nesting and feeding.’

Galapagos tortoises at a breeding centre on Santa Cruz island.

A whitetip shark at the North Seymour island dive site.

Fish at the North Seymour island dive site.

A diver at the North Seymour island dive site.

Fish at the North Seymour island dive site.

The North Seymour island dive site.

Divers at the North Seymour island dive site.

Rangers carry out rescue and care work on Santa Cruz island.

A park ranger holds Galapagos tortoise hatchlings on Santa Cruz island.