JANUARY 2020
In the Galápagos Islands
Navigate between months using the hyperlinks at the bottom of each month’s timeline.
Jump to the month of July (Page 7) for coverage of the 2020 arrival of the foreign distant-water fishing fleet near the outskirts of Ecuador’s Insular EEZ, which surround the Galápagos Marine Reserve.
JANUARY 4
Five defendants added in court case related to past theft of more than 100 tortoises from the Galapagos National Park. The crime was originally occurred on September 24, 2018. Read more about the 2018 theft via Mongabay Latam here
A week-old Galápagos tortoise. Image by Peder Toftegaard Olsen via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0). 
Tortoises at the Arnaldo Tupiza Breeding Center on Isabela Island. More than 100 individuals were stolen
JANUARY 10
Diego, the Galapagos ‘sex symbol’ turtle who saved his species, will return home
Diego, who is over one hundred years old, will return to his island of origin almost 8 decades after being extracted. During the last years it has become a symbol of the conservation of Galapagos.
JANUARY 11
Work begins to refloat barge that sank on the island of San Cristóbal
After the sinking of the barge, which had 600 gallons of diesel stored, actions were taken to reduce the environmental risk in this protected area of PNG. Courtesy
Original incident took place on 23 December 2019. Read additional 2019 coverage of the maritime emergency, impact and subsequent investigation.
The expedition was initially planned for Fernandina Island, but was changed to the Wolf volcano in the north of Isabela Island owing to the ongoing eruption of the La Cumbre volcano on Fernandina Island.
The seamounts of Galapagos reach 3,000 meters deep and still harbor many mysteries so far not explored by humans. Although the Galapagos Marine Reserve was created in 1998, it was not until 2015 that the Nautilus vessel began to explore to characterize it. “For logistical and budget reasons, activities have almost always been focused on the land dimension since the cost of marine research is substantially higher,” explains María José Barragán, director of science at the Charles Darwin Foundation.
When Nautilus jumped into the sea, this foundation, together with the Galapagos National Park, began to discover seamounts: mountains under the sea, of volcanic origin, that do not reach the surface.
An additional young female turtle was established as the “highest priority” for having a high genetic load of the species Chelonoidis abingdonii , considered extinct, to which the Lonesome George belonged.
The team also collected about fifty blood samples from those turtles found for the first time, which were also microchipped for identification. The purpose is to carry out genetic analysis to determine the species to which they belong, considering that Wolf volcano inhabits a large population of hybrid individuals, including species considered extinct, due to the fact that in past centuries pirates and whalers released turtles collected in this site. other islands.
