Fishing and habitat area for the sea cucumber Isostichopus fuscus (Ludwig, 1875) in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

The sea cucumber (Isostichopus fuscus) fishery was the most important in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) in the 2000s. However, after sustained over-fishing that has limited its recovery capacity, this small-scale fishery is nowadays commercially collapsed in the Galapagos. Under that scenario, the Galapagos National Park (GNP) called for total closure from 2016 to 2021. At the end of this period, if the fishery is re-opened, a total allowed catch must be established on the basis of the calculation of the species abundance. In order to estimate the abundance, a spatially explicit fishing and habitat area model was created within the boundaries of the GMR. This model was created on the basis of the ecology of the species (mostly found on rocky bottoms) and the diving depth limits (from 0 to 30 m). We considered benthic cover data from two sources, the sea-cucumber monitoring program data and the cover estimated from video data at 344 locations scattered throughout the GMR. We then filled the remaining areas with remote sensing habitat classification data. All areas not covered by the previous sources of information were assumed to be rocky bottoms. Since mangrove forests (Moity et al., 2018, 2019) are not an optimal habitat for I. fuscus, we removed them from the model. We also removed the no-take zones (Zoning 2000, Moity, 2018a, 2018b) since no fishing is allowed in those areas. The total fishing and habitat area for I. fuscus was calculated in 272.1 km2.

The resulting data set is a GIS layer in ArcGIS shapefile format, EPSG 32715 (WGS 1984/UTM Zone 15S) and a Google Earth layer in KMZ format. The layers include attribute information on the fishing area name (Fishing_ID), benthic cover (Benthic_co) and area (Area_km2, in square km). This dataset will be of most utility for the calculation of the abundance for I. fuscus in the GMR. It also ensures reproducibility and further analysis since it provides for a consistent use of fishing and habitat boundaries for this species in the GMR.

References:
Moity, N. et al. PANGAEA, doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.896684 (2018)
Moity, N. et al. PLOS ONE 14, e0209313 , doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209313 (2019)
Moity, N. PANGAEA, doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.886891 (2018)
Moity, N. Front. Mar. Sci. 5, doi:10.3389/fmars.2018.00244 (2018)

This publication is contribution number 2306DS of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands.