Leaders of Ecuador’s powerful fishing lobby appear resigned to the expansion of an environmental protection zone around the Galapagos Islands, but they predict it will bring hardship to the country’s tuna fleet. Environmentalists, meanwhile, are hailing the measure, which prohibits commercial fishing within 40 miles of the islands. The new protection zone, established by federal law this spring, is intended to keep commercial tuna boats away from rich aquatic feeding grounds off the Galapagos. “That area is an authentic supermarket of food for basically 80% of the animals of the Galapagos,” says Miguel Pellerano, representative in Ecuador for the World Wildlife Fund. Previously, fishing boats were allowed into a 15-mile protected zone on a limited basis, provided they stayed five miles from shore. But... [Log in to read more]